Critical Review: Amplifon (OTCMKTS:AMFPF) versus Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC)

Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) and Amplifon (OTCMKTS:AMFPF) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Henry Schein and Amplifon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Henry Schein	2.96%	15.97%	5.56%
Amplifon	3.01%	16.90%	4.42%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Henry Schein and Amplifon”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Henry Schein	$13.18 billion	0.76	$398.00 million	$3.43	26.10
Amplifon	$2.71 billion	0.91	$103.33 million	$0.37	30.30

Henry Schein has higher revenue and earnings than Amplifon. Henry Schein is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amplifon, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Henry Schein has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its stock price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amplifon has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Henry Schein and Amplifon, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Henry Schein	1	5	9	0	2.53
Amplifon	0	2	2	0	2.50

Henry Schein presently has a consensus target price of $92.93, suggesting a potential upside of 3.81%. Given Henry Schein’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Henry Schein is more favorable than Amplifon.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.6% of Henry Schein shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Henry Schein shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Henry Schein beats Amplifon on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Henry Schein

Henry Schein, Inc. provides health care products and services to dental practitioners, laboratories, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers, government, institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care clinics worldwide. It operates through two segments, Health Care Distribution, and Technology and Value-Added Services. The Health Care Distribution segment offers dental products, including infection-control products, handpieces, preventatives, impression materials, composites, anesthetics, teeth, dental implants, gypsum, acrylics, articulators, abrasives, dental chairs, delivery units and lights, X-ray supplies and equipment, personal protective equipment, and high-tech and digital restoration equipment, as well as equipment repair services. This segment also provides medical products, such as branded and generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, surgical products, diagnostic tests, infection-control products, X-ray products, equipment, and vitamins. The Technology and Value-Added Services segment offers software, technology, and other value-added services that include practice management software systems for dental and medical practitioners; and value-added practice solutions comprising practice consultancy, education, revenue cycle management and financial services, e-services, practice technology, and network and hardware services, as well as consulting, and continuing education services. Henry Schein, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.

About Amplifon

Amplifon S.p.A. engages in the distribution of hearing solutions and the fitting of customized products that help people rediscover various emotions of sound in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers Ampli-easy, Ampli-connect, Ampli-energy, and Ampli-mini hearing devices. It also operates Ampli-care, a platform to deliver audiological care experience; and Amplifon App to manage the device functions in real-time directly from smartphone. Amplifon S.p.A. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy. Amplifon S.p.A.