Financial Contrast: Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) and Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB)

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) and Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and Medpace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Biosciences of California	-80.35%	-571.06%	-18.82%
Medpace	17.67%	110.15%	24.84%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.0% of Medpace shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Pacific Biosciences of California shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of Medpace shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and Medpace”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Biosciences of California	$160.01 million	2.79	-$546.38 million	($0.43)	-3.34
Medpace	$2.53 billion	6.34	$451.12 million	$17.06	33.68

Medpace has higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Biosciences of California. Pacific Biosciences of California is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medpace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Pacific Biosciences of California has a beta of 2.31, indicating that its stock price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medpace has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Pacific Biosciences of California and Medpace, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Biosciences of California	2	2	1	0	1.80
Medpace	0	11	2	0	2.15

Pacific Biosciences of California currently has a consensus price target of $1.83, suggesting a potential upside of 27.76%. Medpace has a consensus price target of $584.18, suggesting a potential upside of 1.66%. Given Pacific Biosciences of California’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Pacific Biosciences of California is more favorable than Medpace.

Summary

Medpace beats Pacific Biosciences of California on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing solution to resolve genetically complex problems. The company provides sequencing systems; consumable products, including single molecule real-time (SMRT) technology; long-red sequencing; and various reagent kits designed for specific workflow, such as preparation kit to convert DNA into SMRTbell double-stranded DNA library formats, including molecular biology reagents, such as ligase, buffers, and exonucleases. It also offers binding kits, such as modified DNA polymerase used to bind SMRTbell libraries to the polymerase in preparation for sequencing; and sequencing kits comprise reagents required for on-instrument, real-time sequencing, including the phospholinked nucleotides. In addition, it provides revio system + sequel systems which conduct, monitor, and analyze single-molecule biochemical reactions in real time; SBB short-read sequencing; onso instrument conducts, monitors, and analyzes SBB biochemical reactions; and SBB consumable, including flow cells, clustering, and sequencing reagent kits. The company serves academic and governmental research institutions; commercial testing and service laboratories; genome centers; public health labs, hospitals and clinical research institutes, and contract research organizations; pharmaceutical companies; and agricultural companies. It markets its products through a sales force and distribution partners in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It has a development and commercialization agreement with Invitae Corporation; and a collaboration with Radboud University Medical to explore genetic causes of rare and genetic diseases. The company was formerly known as Nanofluidics, Inc. and changed its name to Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. in 2005. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Its services include medical department, clinical trial management, data-driven feasibility, study-start-up, clinical monitoring, regulatory affairs, patient recruitment and retention, medical writing, biometrics and data sciences, pharmacovigilance, core laboratory, laboratories, clinics, and quality assurance. The company was founded by August James Troendle in 1992 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.