Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) and LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Merit Medical Systems and LeMaitre Vascular, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Merit Medical Systems | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.88 |
LeMaitre Vascular | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2.43 |
Merit Medical Systems presently has a consensus price target of $64.3750, suggesting a potential upside of 15.53%. LeMaitre Vascular has a consensus price target of $36.1667, suggesting a potential downside of 29.62%. Given Merit Medical Systems' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Merit Medical Systems is more favorable than LeMaitre Vascular.
Volatility & Risk
Merit Medical Systems has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LeMaitre Vascular has a beta of 1.43, suggesting that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Merit Medical Systems and LeMaitre Vascular's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Merit Medical Systems | -3.05% | 9.02% | 4.91% |
LeMaitre Vascular | 15.41% | 12.32% | 8.45% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Merit Medical Systems and LeMaitre Vascular's top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Merit Medical Systems | $994.85 million | 3.11 | $5.45 million | $1.46 | 38.16 |
LeMaitre Vascular | $117.23 million | 8.92 | $17.93 million | $0.88 | 58.40 |
LeMaitre Vascular has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Merit Medical Systems. Merit Medical Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LeMaitre Vascular, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
99.5% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.2% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.5% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
LeMaitre Vascular beats Merit Medical Systems on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.