IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX) Competitors

Moody's (NYSE:MCO) and IDEXX Laboratories (NASDAQ:IDXX) are related large-cap companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability and valuation.

Is MCO or IDXX more profitable?

Moody's has a net margin of 29.18% compared to IDEXX Laboratories' net margin of 24.41%. IDEXX Laboratories' return on equity of 64.42% beat Moody's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Moody's	29.18%	60.73%	15.47%
IDEXX Laboratories	24.41%	64.42%	29.89%

Do analysts prefer MCO or IDXX?

Moody's currently has a consensus price target of $538.80, indicating a potential upside of 4.06%. IDEXX Laboratories has a consensus price target of $623.56, indicating a potential downside of 0.10%. Given Moody's' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Moody's is more favorable than IDEXX Laboratories.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Moody's	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53
IDEXX Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the media prefer MCO or IDXX?

In the previous week, IDEXX Laboratories had 33 more articles in the media than Moody's. MarketBeat recorded 70 mentions for IDEXX Laboratories and 37 mentions for Moody's. Moody's' average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat IDEXX Laboratories' score of 1.07 indicating that Moody's is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Moody's	27 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
IDEXX Laboratories	43 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, MCO or IDXX?

Moody's has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IDEXX Laboratories has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, MCO or IDXX?

Moody's has higher revenue and earnings than IDEXX Laboratories. Moody's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than IDEXX 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
Moody's	$7.09B	13.08	$2.06B	$11.77	43.99
IDEXX Laboratories	$3.90B	12.88	$887.87M	$10.82	57.69

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MCO or IDXX?

92.1% of Moody's shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.8% of IDEXX Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Moody's shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of IDEXX Laboratories 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.

Summary

Moody's beats IDEXX Laboratories on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.