Japara is currently a loss making company (as per FY14...

Japara is currently a loss making company (as per FY14 statement).. Where as if you look at Regis FY14 numbers, they're actually not too bad.

Japara share price has been hit pretty hard because it missed the forecast for FY14. Not sure about you, but when an IPO missed a forecast on the first year it listed, for me it's a big warning sign... Do I trust the company to be able to meet the FY15 forecast? Possibly not.

Regis seem to be getting twice the revenue of Japara even though they only have 40% more places. Regis EBITDA per resident is actually pretty good compared to Japara.

The one thing that I like the most from Regis is how massive their accomodation bond warchest.. $630m as opposed to $220m for Japara.. This massive warchest is what enables them to expand / acquire other businesses without diluting existing shareholders. The EBIT growth rate of 3% does not take into consideration future acquisition.

Dividend wise, Japara isn't currently paying any dividend (doubt they can pay dividend for FY15).. Regis is forecasted to have dividend yield between 4.24% - 4.75%. However, I'm not too happy with their dividend policy of 100% NPAT. I much prefer the profit to be reinvested back to the business rather than paying dividend.

In a nutshell, is Regis cheap? Not really. But in my opinion, it is a much better company than Japara.. It is also in a much better position for future expansion (either through acquisition or brownfield development of existing facilities). I'll be investing reasonable amount $$ for the mid-to-long term. Good luck to all.