Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) versus Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) Head to Head Review

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) and Carriage Services (NYSE:CSV) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Afya and Carriage Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Afya	2	3	4	0	2.22
Carriage Services	1	1	3	0	2.40

Afya currently has a consensus target price of $15.18, suggesting a potential upside of 39.87%. Carriage Services has a consensus target price of $52.57, suggesting a potential upside of 80.26%. Given Carriage Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Carriage Services is more favorable than Afya.

Profitability

This table compares Afya and Carriage Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Afya	20.55%	17.58%	9.09%
Carriage Services	11.31%	17.46%	3.50%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.0% of Afya shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.5% of Carriage Services shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Carriage Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Afya and Carriage Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Afya	$662.01 million	1.54	$134.77 million	$1.64	6.62
Carriage Services	$414.81 million	1.12	$51.51 million	$2.94	9.92

Afya has higher revenue and earnings than Carriage Services. Afya is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Carriage Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Afya has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carriage Services has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Afya pays an annual dividend of $0.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.1%. Carriage Services pays an annual dividend of $0.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Afya pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Carriage Services pays out 15.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Afya beats Carriage Services on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Afya

Afya Limited is a Brazilian medical education and digital health company. Its education business offers undergraduate medical degree programs, medical residency preparation, postgraduate courses and continuing education for health professionals. The company also provides digital tools and services for medical students and practicing physicians, including clinical reference, practice-management and learning resources. These offerings support professionals at different stages of their medical careers.

About Carriage Services

Carriage Services, Inc. is a provider of funeral and cemetery services in the United States. The company owns and operates funeral homes and cemeteries, serving families through arrangements for funerals, memorial services, cremations and cemetery interments. Its offerings also include related merchandise and services, such as caskets, urns, burial spaces and memorial products. Carriage Services operates in multiple states and gives its locations a degree of local operating autonomy while providing centralized support.