Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB) Competitors

Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) and Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) are both small-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, community ranking, risk, profitability, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HBIO or PACB?

80.9% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.5% of Pacific Biosciences of California shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, HBIO or PACB?

Harvard Bioscience has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Biosciences of California has a beta of 2.1, suggesting that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate HBIO or PACB?

Harvard Bioscience currently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 418.67%. Pacific Biosciences of California has a consensus target price of $2.13, suggesting a potential upside of 83.73%. Given Harvard Bioscience's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Harvard Bioscience is more favorable than Pacific Biosciences of California.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harvard Bioscience	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Pacific Biosciences of California	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is HBIO or PACB more profitable?

Harvard Bioscience has a net margin of -14.57% compared to Pacific Biosciences of California's net margin of -200.40%. Harvard Bioscience's return on equity of -4.64% beat Pacific Biosciences of California's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harvard Bioscience	-14.57%	-4.64%	-2.40%
Pacific Biosciences of California	-200.40%	-42.89%	-14.77%

Does the media favor HBIO or PACB?

In the previous week, Harvard Bioscience had 25 more articles in the media than Pacific Biosciences of California. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Harvard Bioscience and 2 mentions for Pacific Biosciences of California. Pacific Biosciences of California's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Harvard Bioscience's score of -0.20 indicating that Pacific Biosciences of California is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Harvard Bioscience	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Pacific Biosciences of California	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HBIO or PACB?

Pacific Biosciences of California received 84 more outperform votes than Harvard Bioscience when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 71.02% of users gave Harvard Bioscience an outperform vote while only 66.37% of users gave Pacific Biosciences of California an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Harvard Bioscience	Outperform Votes 370 71.02%	Underperform Votes 151 28.98%
Pacific Biosciences of California	Outperform Votes 454 66.37%	Underperform Votes 230 33.63%

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, HBIO or PACB?

Harvard Bioscience has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Pacific Biosciences of California. Harvard Bioscience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pacific Biosciences of California, 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
Harvard Bioscience	$91.40M	0.28	-$3.41M	-$1.32	-0.44
Pacific Biosciences of California	$152.36M	2.28	-$308.65M	-$2.79	-0.42

Summary

Harvard Bioscience beats Pacific Biosciences of California on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.