Head-To-Head Review: Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) and Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medtronic’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bio-Rad Laboratories	$2.67 billion	3.06	-$637.32 million	($10.36)	-27.69
Medtronic	$32.36 billion	3.34	$3.68 billion	$2.75	29.59

Medtronic has higher revenue and earnings than Bio-Rad Laboratories. Bio-Rad Laboratories is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medtronic, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medtronic’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bio-Rad Laboratories	-12.37%	3.59%	2.55%
Medtronic	11.36%	13.47%	7.65%

Risk & Volatility

Bio-Rad Laboratories has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medtronic has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

65.2% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.1% of Medtronic shares are held by institutional investors. 17.1% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Medtronic 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medtronic, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bio-Rad Laboratories	0	1	4	0	2.80
Medtronic	2	5	5	0	2.25

Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has a consensus price target of $461.00, suggesting a potential upside of 60.71%. Medtronic has a consensus price target of $93.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.29%. Given Bio-Rad Laboratories’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Bio-Rad Laboratories is more favorable than Medtronic.

Summary

Medtronic beats Bio-Rad Laboratories on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets. It also designs, manufactures, markets, and supports test systems, informatics systems, test kits, and specialized quality controls for hospitals, diagnostic reference, transfusion, and physician office laboratories. The company offers its products through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors, agents, brokers, and resellers. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hercules, California.

About Medtronic

Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. It also provides aortic valves, surgical valve replacement and repair products, endovascular stent grafts and accessories, and transcatheter pulmonary valves; and percutaneous coronary intervention products, percutaneous angioplasty balloons, and products. The company's Medical Surgical Portfolio segment offers surgical stapling devices, vessel sealing instruments, wound closure, electrosurgery products, surgical artificial intelligence and robotic-assisted surgery products, hernia mechanical devices, mesh implants, gynecology and lung products, and various therapies to treat diseases, as well as products in the fields of minimally invasive gastrointestinal and hepatologic diagnostics and therapies, patient monitoring, airway management and ventilation therapies, and renal disease. Its Neuroscience Portfolio segment offers products for spinal surgeons; neurosurgeons; neurologists; pain management specialists; anesthesiologists; orthopedic surgeons; urologists; urogynecologists; interventional radiologists; ear, nose, and throat specialists; and systems that incorporate energy surgical instruments. It also provides image-guided surgery and intra-operative imaging systems and robotic guidance systems used in robot assisted spine procedures; and therapies for vasculature in and around the brain. The company's Diabetes Operating Unit segment offers insulin pumps and consumables, continuous glucose monitoring systems, smart insulin pen systems, and consumables and supplies. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.