Financial Analysis: STERIS (NYSE:STE) versus QHSLab (OTCMKTS:USAQ)

QHSLab (OTCMKTS:USAQ) and STERIS (NYSE:STE) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for QHSLab and STERIS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
QHSLab	0	0	0	0	0.00
STERIS	0	2	6	0	2.75

STERIS has a consensus target price of $275.20, suggesting a potential upside of 10.98%. Given STERIS’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe STERIS is more favorable than QHSLab.

Profitability

This table compares QHSLab and STERIS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
QHSLab	-14.85%	N/A	-22.45%
STERIS	12.15%	14.34%	9.58%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares QHSLab and STERIS”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
QHSLab	$2.13 million	3.84	-$260,000.00	($0.04)	-18.11
STERIS	$5.46 billion	4.45	$614.64 million	$7.17	34.58

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

Risk & Volatility

QHSLab has a beta of 0.51, suggesting that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, STERIS has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.7% of STERIS shares are held by institutional investors. 74.2% of QHSLab shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of STERIS shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

STERIS beats QHSLab on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About QHSLab

QHSLab, Inc., a medical device technology and software as a service (SaaS) company, focuses on value-based healthcare, informatics, and algorithmic personalized medicine. It develops digital therapeutics and point of care solutions to support remote patient monitoring, address chronic care, and preventive medicine. The company provides quality health score lab expert system (QHSLab), a cloud-based SaaS system, which provides physicians and healthcare organizations with the ability to capture and store patient information electronically in a secure database; and distributes AllergiEnd, a diagnostic related product and allergen immunotherapy treatments to primary care physicians. Its products are designed to promote prevention, early detection, management, and reversal of chronic diseases. The company was formerly known as USA Equities Corp. and changed its name to QHSLab, Inc. in April 2022. QHSLab, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Medical License Factory, LLC. QHSLab, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is based in West Palm Beach, Florida.

About STERIS

STERIS plc provides infection prevention products and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, Life Sciences, and Dental. The Healthcare segment offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; automated endoscope reprocessing system and tracking products; endoscopy accessories, washers, sterilizers, and other pieces of capital equipment for the operation of a sterile processing department; and equipment used directly in the operating room, including surgical tables, lights, and connectivity solutions, as well as equipment management services. It also provides capital equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; preventive maintenance programs and repair services; instrument and endoscope repair and maintenance services; and custom process improvement consulting and outsourced instrument sterile processing services. The Applied Sterilization Technologies segment provides contract sterilization and testing services for medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers through a network of approximately 50 contract sterilization and laboratory facilities. The Life Sciences segment designs, manufactures and sells consumable products, such as formulated cleaning chemistries, barrier, sterility assurance products, steam and vaporized hydrogen peroxide sterilizers, and washer disinfectors. This segment also offers equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; and preventive maintenance programs and repair services. The Dental segment provides hand and electric-powered dental instruments, infection control products, conscious sedation, personal protective equipment, and water quality products for dental suite. The company serves its products and services to hospitals, other healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.