CHEMED CORPORATION vs Sotera Health Co, two Medical Care stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
What is priced in diverges more than the multiples suggest: Chemed at 25.3 times earnings needs only continuation, its 30.6% return on equity and 12.9% operating margin already in hand; Sotera at 42.4 times needs deleveraging, growth, and multiple retention all at once, its 18.9% return on equity resting on 3.46 turns of debt from the sterilization roll-up era. Sotera's 52.5% gross margin is genuine moat, ethylene-oxide sterilization has few substitutes, but only 1.9% of its price returns as free cash against Chemed's 5.6%. The seventeen-turn premium on the levered story is a bet that monopoly niches outrank clean balance sheets; Chemed's page argues you can have both.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | CHE | SHC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $462.49 | $17.38 |
| Market cap | $6.3B | $5.0B |
| Sector | Medical Care | Medical Care |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +4.5% | +15.4% |
| P/E | 25.3 | 42.4 |
| P/B | 7.47 | 8.03 |
| P/S | 2.49 | 4.20 |
| EV/EBITDA | 16.3 | 271.2 |
| Revenue growth | +2.1% | +7.5% |
| Gross margin | — | 52.5% |
| Operating margin | 12.9% | — |
| Net margin | 10.2% | 9.9% |
| Return on equity | 30.6% | 18.9% |
| Return on assets | 16.9% | 3.6% |
| Return on invested capital | 26.1% | — |
| FCF yield | 5.6% | 1.9% |
| Dividend yield | 0.5% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.11 | 3.46 |
| Current ratio | 0.85 | 2.82 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 10.00 | 1.44 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 4 / 9 |
Each week boothcheck ranks the stocks whose prices are betting on the most. Read the most stretched bets archive →
boothcheck is also on Android. Get the app on Google Play →
The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.