Viveve Medical (NASDAQ:VIVE) and Varian Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
18.2% of Viveve Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Varian Medical Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Viveve Medical shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Varian Medical Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Viveve Medical and Varian Medical Systems' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| Viveve Medical | -661.57% | -243.62% | -139.23% |
| Varian Medical Systems | 8.50% | 18.45% | 8.08% |
Risk & Volatility
Viveve Medical has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Varian Medical Systems has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Viveve Medical and Varian Medical Systems' gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| Viveve Medical | $6.57 million | 4.91 | $-42,530,000.00 | ($338.00) | -0.01 |
| Varian Medical Systems | $3.17 billion | 5.13 | $269.20 million | $3.91 | 45.30 |
Varian Medical Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Viveve Medical. Viveve Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Varian Medical Systems, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Viveve Medical and Varian Medical Systems, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| Viveve Medical | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Varian Medical Systems | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.63 |
Varian Medical Systems has a consensus price target of $159.3571, suggesting a potential downside of 10.03%. Given Varian Medical Systems' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Varian Medical Systems is more favorable than Viveve Medical.
Summary
Varian Medical Systems beats Viveve Medical on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
