Novartis (NVS) Competitors

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and community ranking.

Is ABT or NVS a better dividend stock?

Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories pays out 68.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Novartis pays out 32.8% 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. Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years and Novartis has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Novartis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has higher earnings & valuation, ABT or NVS?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Abbott Laboratories	$40.11B	4.42	$5.72B	$3.21	31.78
Novartis	$45.44B	4.49	$14.85B	$7.41	13.47

Is ABT or NVS more profitable?

Novartis has a net margin of 31.33% compared to Novartis' net margin of 13.96%. Abbott Laboratories' return on equity of 32.15% beat Novartis' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Abbott Laboratories	13.96%	20.18%	10.60%
Novartis	31.33%	32.15%	13.59%

Do analysts rate ABT or NVS?

Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus price target of $120.60, indicating a potential upside of 17.87%. Novartis has a consensus price target of $115.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.08%. Given Novartis' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Abbott Laboratories is more favorable than Novartis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Abbott Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Novartis	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ABT or NVS?

Abbott Laboratories received 392 more outperform votes than Novartis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.62% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 61.42% of users gave Novartis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 919 69.62%	Underperform Votes 401 30.38%
Novartis	Outperform Votes 527 61.42%	Underperform Votes 331 38.58%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in ABT or NVS?

75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.1% of Novartis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Novartis shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to ABT or NVS?

In the previous week, Abbott Laboratories and Abbott Laboratories both had 15 articles in the media. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Abbott Laboratories' score of 0.91 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Abbott Laboratories	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novartis	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, ABT or NVS?

Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novartis has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Novartis on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.