Head to Head Comparison: Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) vs. LivaNova (NASDAQ:LIVN)

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) and LivaNova (NASDAQ:LIVN) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Thermo Fisher Scientific has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LivaNova has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.2% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.6% of LivaNova shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of LivaNova 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Thermo Fisher Scientific and LivaNova”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Thermo Fisher Scientific	$42.88 billion	5.05	$6.34 billion	$17.31	33.11
LivaNova	$1.25 billion	2.39	$63.23 million	($3.89)	-14.11

Thermo Fisher Scientific has higher revenue and earnings than LivaNova. LivaNova is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Thermo Fisher Scientific, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Thermo Fisher Scientific and LivaNova, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Thermo Fisher Scientific	0	5	19	0	2.79
LivaNova	1	2	5	0	2.50

Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus price target of $595.75, suggesting a potential upside of 3.96%. LivaNova has a consensus price target of $59.71, suggesting a potential upside of 8.79%. Given LivaNova’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe LivaNova is more favorable than Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Profitability

This table compares Thermo Fisher Scientific and LivaNova’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Thermo Fisher Scientific	15.02%	16.97%	8.49%
LivaNova	-16.13%	14.57%	6.91%

Summary

Thermo Fisher Scientific beats LivaNova on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets. Its Analytical Instruments segment provides instruments, consumables, software, and services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government, environmental, and other research and industrial markets, as well as clinical laboratories. The company's Specialty Diagnostics segment offers liquid, ready-to-use, and lyophilized immunodiagnostic reagent kits, as well as calibrators, controls, protein detection assays, and instruments; immunodiagnostics develops, manufactures and markets complete bloodtest systems to support the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy, asthma and autoimmune diseases; dehydrated and prepared culture media, collection and transport systems, instrumentation, and consumables; human leukocyte antigen typing and testing for organ transplant market; and healthcare products. Its Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment provides laboratory products, research and safety market channel, and pharma services and clinical research. It offers products and services through a direct sales force, customer-service professionals, electronic commerce, and third-party distributors under Thermo Scientific; Applied Biosystems; Invitrogen; Fisher Scientific; Unity Lab Services; and Patheon and PPD. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About LivaNova

LivaNova PLC, a medical device company, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells therapeutic solutions worldwide. The company operates through Cardiopulmonary, Neuromodulation, and Advanced Circulatory Support segments. The Cardiopulmonary segment develops, produces, and sells cardiopulmonary products, including oxygenators, heart-lung machines, autotransfusion systems, perfusion tubing systems, cannulae, connect, and other related products. The Neuromodulation segment designs, develops, markets, and sells VNS Therapy System, an implantable pulse generator and connective lead that stimulates the vagus nerve; difficult-to-treat depression and drug-resistant epilepsy devices. The Advanced Circulatory Support segment develops, produces, and sells temporary life support products. It serves perfusionists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and other physicians, as well as hospitals, other medical institutions, and healthcare providers. The company sells its products through direct sales representatives and independent distributors. LivaNova PLC was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.