Contrasting Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD)

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) and LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Guardant Health and LifeMD”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guardant Health	$982.02 million	21.67	-$416.28 million	($3.49)	-45.44
LifeMD	$194.05 million	0.58	$14.35 million	($0.05)	-46.80

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

Profitability

This table compares Guardant Health and LifeMD’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guardant Health	-38.33%	N/A	-25.40%
LifeMD	0.10%	-168.23%	-31.27%

Volatility and Risk

Guardant Health has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LifeMD has a beta of 1.99, meaning that its stock price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Guardant Health and LifeMD, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guardant Health	1	0	23	1	2.96
LifeMD	1	1	8	0	2.70

Guardant Health currently has a consensus price target of $190.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.80%. LifeMD has a consensus price target of $7.57, suggesting a potential upside of 223.57%. Given LifeMD’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LifeMD is more favorable than Guardant Health.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.6% of Guardant Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.5% of LifeMD shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Guardant Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of LifeMD shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Guardant Health beats LifeMD on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc., a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers. It offers Shield Test; Guardant Reveal Test for adjuvant treatment selection in early-stage cancer patients; Smart Liquid Biopsy Platform; and Guardant Galaxy, an AI-backed digital pathology platform that helps improve cancer biomarker detection. In addition, the company offers development services, including companion diagnostic development and regulatory approval, clinical study setup, monitoring and maintenance, testing development and support, technologies licensing, and kits fulfillment. The company has a collaboration agreement with Illumina, Inc. for the sharing of specimen samples to advance cancer research. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

About LifeMD

LifeMD, Inc. operates as a direct-to-patient telehealth company that connects consumers to healthcare professionals for medical care in the United States. The company offers telehealth platform comprising RexMD, a men's telehealth brand that provides access to virtual medical treatment for a variety of men's health needs from licensed physician; ShapiroMD that provides virtual medical treatment, prescription medications, patented doctor formulated OTC products, topical compounded medications, and medical devices treating male and female hair loss; NavaMD, a female-oriented tele-dermatology that offers virtual medical treatment from dermatologists and other providers; and prescription oral and compounded topical medications to treat aging and acne; and Cleared which provides personalized treatments for allergy, asthma and immunology, including in-home tests for both environmental and food allergies, prescriptions for allergies and asthma and immunotherapies for treating chronic allergies. It also provides LifeMD PC, a direct-to-consumer virtual primary care which includes 24/7 access to a provider for their primary care, urgent care, and chronic care needs; and offers virtual consultations and treatment, prescription medications, diagnostics and imaging, wellness coaching, and more. In addition, the company offers PDFSimpli, an online software as a service platform that allows users to create, edit, convert, sign, and share PDF documents; ResumeBuild which provides digital resume and cover letter services; SignSimpli, a digital signature platform; and LegalSimpli, a provider of legal forms for consumers and small businesses. It sells its products directly to consumers and through e-commerce platforms, as well as through third party partner channels. The company was formerly known as Conversion Labs, Inc. and changed its name to LifeMD, Inc. in February 2021. LifeMD, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in New York, New York.