Comparing Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) & Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO)

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) and Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Bio-Rad Laboratories has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medpace has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medpace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bio-Rad Laboratories	8.59%	3.54%	2.48%
Medpace	17.67%	110.15%	24.84%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medpace, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bio-Rad Laboratories	0	4	1	0	2.20
Medpace	0	10	3	0	2.23

Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has a consensus target price of $343.33, suggesting a potential downside of 2.53%. Medpace has a consensus target price of $607.73, suggesting a potential downside of 1.93%. Given Medpace’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Medpace is more favorable than Bio-Rad Laboratories.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.2% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of Medpace shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.3% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of Medpace shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Medpace”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bio-Rad Laboratories	$2.58 billion	3.65	$759.90 million	$8.25	42.70
Medpace	$2.53 billion	6.84	$451.12 million	$17.06	36.32

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

Summary

Medpace beats Bio-Rad Laboratories on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets. It also designs, manufactures, markets, and supports test systems, informatics systems, test kits, and specialized quality controls for hospitals, diagnostic reference, transfusion, and physician office laboratories. The company offers its products through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors, agents, brokers, and resellers. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hercules, 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.