Veterinary Services Industry

Direct Answer

Veterinary service companies own and operate animal hospitals and clinics that provide exams, surgery, dental care and diagnostics for pets. Pet owners pay out of pocket or through insurance, and consolidators acquire independent practices.

Industry Overview

Veterinary Services sits within the health care sector. The first numbers to compare across companies here are same-store revenue growth, visit volume and revenue per visit and veterinarian retention. The outside forces that move them are listed under Primary Macro Drivers.

Key Industry Metrics

• Same-store revenue growth: Revenue change at hospitals open in both periods. It separates price and visit trends at existing clinics from growth acquired through purchases.
• Visit volume and revenue per visit: Number of pet visits and the average bill per visit. Price increases can lift revenue per visit even when visits flatten, so the two reveal where growth comes from.
• Veterinarian retention: Share of veterinarians who stay at the clinics. Veterinarians generate the revenue, so turnover raises recruiting cost and can lower visits.
• Clinic margin: Profit at clinics after staff, supplies and facility costs. Labor and drug costs drive it, so check whether price increases are keeping up with those costs.
• Acquisitions: Number of practices bought. Acquisitions add revenue quickly but often with debt, so compare them with integration results and same-store trends.

Primary Macro Drivers

• Pet ownership and humanization: Owners who treat pets as family spend more on care, which supports visits and revenue per visit.
• Pet insurance penetration: Pet insurance reduces the cost at the point of care for owners, which can support higher-priced procedures and revenue per visit.
• Veterinarian supply: Clinics can only see as many patients as they have veterinarians, so supply limits visit volume and drives wage costs.
• Price increases: Price increases lift revenue per visit, but if visits fall in response, same-store growth depends on the balance of the two.

Major Risks

• Clinician shortages: A shortage of veterinarians limits appointments and raises wages and recruitment cost; watch veterinarian retention and clinic margin.
• Consumer spending pressure: When owners are squeezed, they defer elective care and visits, which lowers visit volume; watch same-store revenue growth and revenue per visit.
• Regulatory scrutiny of consolidation: Authorities may review deals that reduce local competition and prices, which can slow acquisitions; watch regulatory proceedings and acquisition count.
• Leverage: Roll-ups funded by borrowing raise interest cost if growth slows; watch debt relative to earnings and same-store growth.

Industry Characteristics

Companies Associated with Veterinary Services

The SEC's Standard Industrial Classification has no code that describes veterinary services as a group, so there is no complete list of its filers. The companies below come from Swoopr's SEC dataset and have operations in or next to the industry. Each is classified by the SEC under its own main business.

Source: each company's own annual report as filed with the SEC (XBRL data), figures in U.S. dollars. Listing here describes a business relationship to the industry, not a recommendation. To find more companies, use the company directory and the health care hub.

Where to Go Next

The Veterinary Services guide describes how the industry earns money, what to measure and what can go wrong. To see how it compares, read the neighbouring industries in the same sector, then apply the same checks to a specific company.

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