Critical Survey: LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) & Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN)

LifeStance Health Group (NASDAQ:LFST) and Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

85.5% of LifeStance Health Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.5% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by institutional investors. 6.6% of LifeStance Health Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

LifeStance Health Group has a beta of 1.17, suggesting that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Elanco Animal Health has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares LifeStance Health Group and Elanco Animal Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LifeStance Health Group	-1.23%	-1.11%	-0.76%
Elanco Animal Health	9.68%	7.04%	3.45%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares LifeStance Health Group and Elanco Animal Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LifeStance Health Group	$1.32 billion	1.50	-$57.44 million	($0.05)	-101.80
Elanco Animal Health	$4.44 billion	2.27	$338.00 million	$0.86	23.54

Elanco Animal Health has higher revenue and earnings than LifeStance Health Group. LifeStance Health Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Elanco Animal Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for LifeStance Health Group and Elanco Animal Health, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LifeStance Health Group	2	0	5	2	2.78
Elanco Animal Health	0	3	6	2	2.91

LifeStance Health Group currently has a consensus price target of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 66.99%. Elanco Animal Health has a consensus price target of $19.14, indicating a potential downside of 5.44%. Given LifeStance Health Group’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe LifeStance Health Group is more favorable than Elanco Animal Health.

Summary

Elanco Animal Health beats LifeStance Health Group on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About LifeStance Health Group

LifeStance Health Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides outpatient mental health services to children, adolescents, adults, and geriatrics in the United States. The company offers patients a suite of mental health services, including psychiatric evaluations and treatment, psychological, and neuropsychological testing, as well as individual, family, and group therapy. It treats a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, psychotic disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, the company operates an outpatient mental health platform, as well as offers patient care virtually through its online delivery platform or in-person at its centers. LifeStance Health Group, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, an animal health company, innovates, develops, manufactures, and markets products for pets and farm animals. It offers pet health disease prevention products, such as parasiticide and vaccine products that protect pets from worms, fleas, and ticks under the Seresto, Advantage, Advantix, and Advocate brands; pet health therapeutics for pain, osteoarthritis, ear infections, cardiovascular, and dermatology indications in canines and felines under the Galliprant and Claro brands; vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides, and other products for use in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics; and a range of vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides, and other products used in ruminant and swine production under the Rumensin and Baytril brands. The company sells its products to third-party distributors; veterinarians; and farm animal producers, including beef and dairy farmers, as well as pork, poultry, and aquaculture operations. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana.