Novartis (NVS) Competitors

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) and Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and community ranking.

Is NVS or NVO more profitable?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a net margin of 34.81% compared to Novartis' net margin of 23.56%. Novo Nordisk A/S's return on equity of 84.68% beat Novartis' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novartis	23.56%	37.24%	15.85%
Novo Nordisk A/S	34.81%	84.68%	26.29%

Do analysts prefer NVS or NVO?

Novartis currently has a consensus target price of $123.38, suggesting a potential upside of 9.86%. Novo Nordisk A/S has a consensus target price of $135.00, suggesting a potential upside of 98.03%. Given Novo Nordisk A/S's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Novo Nordisk A/S is more favorable than Novartis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novartis	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Novo Nordisk A/S	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Is NVS or NVO a better dividend stock?

Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.59 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Novo Nordisk A/S pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Novartis pays out 40.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Novo Nordisk A/S pays out 48.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in NVS or NVO?

13.1% of Novartis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Novo Nordisk A/S shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Novartis shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Novo Nordisk A/S shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, NVS or NVO?

Novartis has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novo Nordisk A/S has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer NVS or NVO?

In the previous week, Novo Nordisk A/S had 51 more articles in the media than Novartis. MarketBeat recorded 73 mentions for Novo Nordisk A/S and 22 mentions for Novartis. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat Novo Nordisk A/S's score of 0.63 indicating that Novartis is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Novartis	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novo Nordisk A/S	31 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	12 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, NVS or NVO?

Novo Nordisk A/S has higher revenue and earnings than Novartis. Novartis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Novo Nordisk A/S, 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
Novartis	$53.22B	4.46	$11.94B	$6.40	17.55
Novo Nordisk A/S	$303.14B	1.01	$14.64B	$3.38	20.17

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NVS or NVO?

Novartis received 99 more outperform votes than Novo Nordisk A/S when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 61.74% of users gave Novo Nordisk A/S an outperform vote while only 60.91% of users gave Novartis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Novartis	Outperform Votes 533 60.91%	Underperform Votes 342 39.09%
Novo Nordisk A/S	Outperform Votes 434 61.74%	Underperform Votes 269 38.26%

Summary

Novo Nordisk A/S beats Novartis on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.