Head-To-Head Survey: Evolus (NASDAQ:EOLS) & Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR)

Evolus (NASDAQ:EOLS) and Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Evolus has a beta of 1.33, suggesting that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lifecore Biomedical has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Evolus and Lifecore Biomedical”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evolus	$297.18 million	1.61	-$51.64 million	($0.52)	-13.89
Lifecore Biomedical	$128.87 million	1.88	-$40.50 million	($1.07)	-6.00

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

Profitability

This table compares Evolus and Lifecore Biomedical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evolus	-10.85%	N/A	-13.00%
Lifecore Biomedical	-29.93%	N/A	-16.16%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.7% of Evolus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Evolus shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 32.7% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Evolus and Lifecore Biomedical, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evolus	1	1	4	0	2.50
Lifecore Biomedical	1	4	0	0	1.80

Evolus presently has a consensus target price of $14.50, suggesting a potential upside of 100.75%. Lifecore Biomedical has a consensus target price of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1.33%. Given Evolus’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Evolus is more favorable than Lifecore Biomedical.

Summary

Evolus beats Lifecore Biomedical on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Evolus

Evolus, Inc., a performance beauty company, focuses on delivering products in the cash-pay aesthetic market in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The company offers Jeuveau, a proprietary 900 kilodalton purified botulinum toxin type A formulation for the temporary improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe glabellar lines in adults. It also provides dermal filler products under the Estyme and Evolysse names. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.

About Lifecore Biomedical

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate (HA) in bulk form, as well as formulated and filled syringes and vials for injectable products used in treating a range of medical conditions and procedures. It also provides services, such as technology development, material component changes, analytical method development, formulation development, pilot studies, stability studies, process validation, and production of materials for clinical studies to its partners for HA-based and non-HA based aseptically formulated and filled products. The company was formerly known as Landec Corporation and changed its name to Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. in November 2022. Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Chaska, Minnesota.