Head to Head Survey: Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC) & NeoGenomics (NASDAQ:NEO)

Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC) and NeoGenomics (NASDAQ:NEO) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Acadia Healthcare and NeoGenomics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Acadia Healthcare	$3.37 billion	0.79	-$1.10 billion	($12.45)	-2.31
NeoGenomics	$727.33 million	3.07	-$108.03 million	($0.40)	-43.50

NeoGenomics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Acadia Healthcare. NeoGenomics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acadia Healthcare, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Acadia Healthcare and NeoGenomics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Acadia Healthcare	-33.44%	6.19%	2.42%
NeoGenomics	-6.77%	-1.99%	-1.21%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.5% of NeoGenomics shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of Acadia Healthcare shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of NeoGenomics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Acadia Healthcare and NeoGenomics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Acadia Healthcare	2	5	7	1	2.47
NeoGenomics	1	2	6	1	2.70

Acadia Healthcare presently has a consensus target price of $29.85, indicating a potential upside of 3.92%. NeoGenomics has a consensus target price of $17.67, indicating a potential upside of 1.53%. Given Acadia Healthcare’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Acadia Healthcare is more favorable than NeoGenomics.

Volatility and Risk

Acadia Healthcare has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NeoGenomics has a beta of 1.75, indicating that its share price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About Acadia Healthcare

Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. provides behavioral healthcare services in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company develops and operates acute inpatient psychiatric facilities, specialty treatment facilities comprising residential recovery facilities and eating disorder facilities, comprehensive treatment centers, and residential treatment centers, as well as facilities offering outpatient behavioral healthcare services for the behavioral healthcare and recovery needs of communities. Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee.

About NeoGenomics

NeoGenomics, Inc. operates a network of cancer-focused testing laboratories in the United States and the United Kingdom. It operates through Clinical Services and Advanced Diagnostics segments. The company offers testing services to hospitals, academic centers, pathologists, oncologists, clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical laboratories. It also provides cytogenetics testing services to study normal and abnormal chromosomes and their relationship to diseases; fluorescence in-situ hybridization testing services that focus on detecting and locating the presence or absence of specific DNA sequences and genes on chromosomes; flow cytometry testing services to measure the characteristics of cell populations; and immunohistochemistry and digital imaging testing services to localize cellular proteins in tissue section, as well as to allow clients to visualize scanned slides, and perform quantitative analysis for various stains. In addition, the company also provides molecular testing services, which focus on the analysis of DNA and/or RNA, and the structure and function of genes at the molecular level; morphologic analysis, which is the process of analyzing cells under the microscope by a pathologist for the purpose of diagnosis; and testing services in support of its pharmaceutical clients' oncology programs covering discovery and commercialization. NeoGenomics, Inc. was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida.