DENTSPLY SIRONA (XRAY) Competitors

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) and DENTSPLY SIRONA (NASDAQ:XRAY) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk and volatility, MMSI or XRAY?

Merit Medical Systems has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DENTSPLY SIRONA has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MMSI or XRAY?

99.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.7% of DENTSPLY SIRONA shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of DENTSPLY SIRONA shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is MMSI or XRAY more profitable?

Merit Medical Systems has a net margin of 9.05% compared to DENTSPLY SIRONA's net margin of -10.59%. Merit Medical Systems' return on equity of 15.61% beat DENTSPLY SIRONA's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merit Medical Systems	9.05%	15.61%	8.38%
DENTSPLY SIRONA	-10.59%	12.62%	5.45%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MMSI or XRAY?

DENTSPLY SIRONA received 20 more outperform votes than Merit Medical Systems when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 70.22% of users gave Merit Medical Systems an outperform vote while only 60.82% of users gave DENTSPLY SIRONA an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Merit Medical Systems	Outperform Votes 455 70.22%	Underperform Votes 193 29.78%
DENTSPLY SIRONA	Outperform Votes 475 60.82%	Underperform Votes 306 39.18%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, MMSI or XRAY?

Merit Medical Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than DENTSPLY SIRONA. DENTSPLY SIRONA is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Merit Medical Systems, 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
Merit Medical Systems	$1.36B	4.06	$94.41M	$2.04	45.69
DENTSPLY SIRONA	$3.79B	0.73	-$132M	-$4.55	-3.06

Does the media favor MMSI or XRAY?

In the previous week, Merit Medical Systems had 14 more articles in the media than DENTSPLY SIRONA. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for Merit Medical Systems and 18 mentions for DENTSPLY SIRONA. DENTSPLY SIRONA's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Merit Medical Systems' score of 0.71 indicating that DENTSPLY SIRONA is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Merit Medical Systems	14 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
DENTSPLY SIRONA	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer MMSI or XRAY?

Merit Medical Systems presently has a consensus price target of $107.78, indicating a potential upside of 15.64%. DENTSPLY SIRONA has a consensus price target of $21.25, indicating a potential upside of 52.55%. Given DENTSPLY SIRONA's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe DENTSPLY SIRONA is more favorable than Merit Medical Systems.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merit Medical Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
DENTSPLY SIRONA	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Summary

Merit Medical Systems beats DENTSPLY SIRONA on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.