Ferguson Enterprises Inc. vs HENRY SCHEIN, INC., two Distribution stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Ferguson earns a 37.78% return on equity distributing building supply; Henry Schein earns 10.08% distributing dental and medical products, and the gap in quality is wide. Ferguson nets 6.87% against Schein's 2.95%, converts similar free cash, and trades richer on paper yet cheaper on earnings, 21 times against 25.7. Schein trades at 2.52 times book against Ferguson's 7.91. Both carry modest debt. The pair contrasts a high-return building-supply distributor with a thin-margin healthcare one: Ferguson's scale and pricing power earn nearly four times Schein's return on equity, yet trade at a lower multiple, making Schein look expensive for its economics and Ferguson the clear quality-and-value winner.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | FERG | HSIC |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $238.57 | $84.96 |
| Market cap | $46.5B | $9.9B |
| Sector | Distribution | Distribution |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +17.6% | +5.1% |
| P/E | 21.2 | 25.7 |
| P/B | 7.91 | 2.52 |
| P/S | 1.44 | 0.74 |
| EV/EBITDA | 14.4 | 11.0 |
| Revenue growth | +6.7% | +5.6% |
| Gross margin | 31.0% | 31.8% |
| Operating margin | 8.2% | 5.4% |
| Net margin | 6.9% | 3.0% |
| Return on equity | 37.8% | 10.1% |
| Return on assets | 12.5% | 3.5% |
| Return on invested capital | 22.7% | 10.5% |
| FCF yield | 4.5% | 4.5% |
| Dividend yield | 1.4% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.70 | 0.27 |
| Current ratio | 1.78 | 1.36 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 5.15 | 2.68 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 4 / 9 |
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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.