Edwards Lifesciences (EW) Competitors

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) and Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and media sentiment.

Do analysts recommend EW or HSIC?

Edwards Lifesciences currently has a consensus target price of $80.20, suggesting a potential upside of 4.47%. Henry Schein has a consensus target price of $79.30, suggesting a potential upside of 6.21%. Given Henry Schein's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Henry Schein is more favorable than Edwards Lifesciences.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edwards Lifesciences	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40
Henry Schein	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64

Is EW or HSIC more profitable?

Edwards Lifesciences has a net margin of 75.48% compared to Henry Schein's net margin of 3.21%. Edwards Lifesciences' return on equity of 16.62% beat Henry Schein's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edwards Lifesciences	75.48%	16.62%	12.64%
Henry Schein	3.21%	14.87%	5.82%

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of EW or HSIC?

79.5% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Henry Schein shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Henry Schein shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, EW or HSIC?

Edwards Lifesciences has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Henry Schein. Edwards Lifesciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Henry Schein, 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
Edwards Lifesciences	$5.44B	8.28	$4.17B	$7.00	10.97
Henry Schein	$12.67B	0.72	$390M	$3.20	23.33

Does the media prefer EW or HSIC?

In the previous week, Edwards Lifesciences had 16 more articles in the media than Henry Schein. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Edwards Lifesciences and 8 mentions for Henry Schein. Edwards Lifesciences' average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Henry Schein's score of 1.13 indicating that Edwards Lifesciences is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Edwards Lifesciences	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Henry Schein	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, EW or HSIC?

Edwards Lifesciences has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Edwards Lifesciences beats Henry Schein on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.