Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) versus Cochlear (OTCMKTS:CHEOF) Head-To-Head Survey

Cochlear (OTCMKTS:CHEOF) and Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Cochlear and Cerus, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cochlear	0	0	0	0	N/A
Cerus	0	1	2	0	2.67

Cerus has a consensus target price of $3.83, suggesting a potential upside of 62.43%. Given Cerus’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cerus is more favorable than Cochlear.

Profitability

This table compares Cochlear and Cerus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cochlear	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cerus	-14.15%	-44.14%	-11.37%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

22.5% of Cochlear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.4% of Cerus shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Cerus shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cochlear and Cerus’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cochlear	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.64	126.93
Cerus	$169.98 million	2.57	-$37.49 million	($0.17)	-13.88

Cochlear has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Cerus. Cerus is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cochlear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Cochlear

Cochlear Limited provides implantable hearing solutions for children and adults worldwide. It offers cochlear implant systems, sound processor upgrades, bone conduction systems, accessories, and other products. Cochlear Limited was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion. The company offers INTERCEPT Blood Systems for platelets and plasma, which is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in platelets and plasma donated for transfusion; INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in red blood cells donated for transfusion; and INTERCEPT Blood System for Cryoprecipitation that uses its plasma system to produce pathogen reduced cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex for the treatment and control of bleeding, including massive hemorrhage associated with fibrinogen deficiency, as well as pathogen reduced plasma, cryoprecipitate reduced. It sells platelet and plasma systems through its direct sales force and distributors in the United States, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East, Latin America, and internationally. Cerus Corporation was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Concord, California.