Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend NVS or ABT?

Novartis presently has a consensus price target of $115.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.02%. Abbott Laboratories has a consensus price target of $121.50, suggesting a potential upside of 12.99%. Given Abbott Laboratories' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Novartis is more favorable than Abbott Laboratories.

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

Is NVS or ABT 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
Novartis	31.33%	32.15%	13.59%
Abbott Laboratories	13.96%	20.32%	10.59%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in NVS or ABT?

Abbott Laboratories received 391 more outperform votes than Novartis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.60% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 61.42% of users gave Novartis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Novartis	Outperform Votes 527 61.42%	Underperform Votes 331 38.58%
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 918 69.60%	Underperform Votes 401 30.40%

Is NVS or ABT a better dividend stock?

Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Novartis pays out 32.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Abbott Laboratories pays out 68.5% 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. Novartis has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Abbott Laboratories has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years. Novartis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more risk and volatility, NVS or ABT?

Novartis has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

13.1% of Novartis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Novartis shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better earnings and valuation, NVS or ABT?

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
Novartis	$45.44B	4.38	$14.85B	$7.41	13.15
Abbott Laboratories	$40.11B	4.65	$5.72B	$3.21	33.50

Does the media refer more to NVS or ABT?

In the previous week, Novartis had 21 more articles in the media than Abbott Laboratories. MarketBeat recorded 44 mentions for Novartis and 23 mentions for Abbott Laboratories. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 0.64 beat Abbott Laboratories' score of 0.40 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Novartis	15 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	15 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Abbott Laboratories	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Novartis on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.