Contrasting QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) & Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO)

Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) and QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.9% of Perrigo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.0% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Perrigo shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Perrigo has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QuidelOrtho has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Perrigo and QuidelOrtho, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Perrigo	1	2	2	0	2.20
QuidelOrtho	2	2	3	0	2.14

Perrigo presently has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 50.98%. QuidelOrtho has a consensus target price of $39.20, indicating a potential upside of 30.75%. Given Perrigo’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Perrigo is more favorable than QuidelOrtho.

Profitability

This table compares Perrigo and QuidelOrtho’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Perrigo	-1.86%	9.09%	3.96%
QuidelOrtho	-16.10%	5.29%	2.43%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Perrigo and QuidelOrtho”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Perrigo	$4.33 billion	0.72	-$171.80 million	($0.58)	-38.83
QuidelOrtho	$2.78 billion	0.73	-$2.05 billion	($6.54)	-4.58

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

Summary

Perrigo beats QuidelOrtho on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc provides over-the-counter health and wellness solutions to enhance individual well-being in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Consumer Self-Care Americas and Consumer Self-Care International segments. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes self-care consumer products, such as upper respiratory products, including cough suppressants, expectorants, and sinus and allergy relief; nutrition products consisting of infant formulas and nutritional beverages; digestive health products, including antacids, anti-diarrheal, and anti-heartburn; pain and sleep-aids products comprising pain relievers and fever reducers; and oral care products, which include toothbrushes, toothbrush replacement heads, floss, flossers, whitening products, and toothbrush covers. It also offers healthy lifestyle products, such as smoking cessation, well-being, and weight management products; skin care products consisting of dermatological care, scar management, lice treatment, and other products for various skin conditions; women's health products comprising feminine hygiene and contraceptives; vitamins, minerals, and supplements; rare diseases business; and other miscellaneous self-care products. The company sells its products under the Compeed, Dr. Fresh, Firefly, Good Sense, Good Start, Mederma, Nasonex, Plackers, Prevacid24HR, REACH, Rembrandt, Steripod, Opill, Solpadeine, Coldrex, Physiomer, NiQuitin, ACO, ellaOne, Compeed Stops, XLS, Arterin, Davitamon, Apiserum, Abtei, and Nicorette brands. It also offers contract manufacturing services. The company sells its products through retail drug, supermarket, and mass merchandise chains; e-commerce stores; wholesalers; pharmacies; drug and grocery retailers; and para-pharmacies. The company was formerly known as Perrigo Company and changed its name to Perrigo Company plc in December 2013. Perrigo Company plc was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho Corporation provides diagnostic testing solutions. The company operates through Labs, Transfusion Medicine, Point-of-Care, and Molecular Diagnostics business units. The Labs business unit provides clinical chemistry laboratory instruments and tests that measure target chemicals in bodily fluids for the evaluation of health and the clinical management of patients; immunoassay laboratory instruments and tests, which measure proteins as they act as antigens in the spread of disease, antibodies in the immune response spurred by disease, or markers of proper organ function and health; testing products to detect and monitor disease progression across a spectrum of therapeutic areas; and specialized diagnostic solutions. The Transfusion Medicine business unit offers immunohematology instruments and tests used for blood typing to ensure patient-donor compatibility in blood transfusions; and donor screening instruments and tests used for blood and plasma screening for infectious diseases. The Point-of-Care business unit provides instruments and tests to provide rapid results across a continuum of point-of-care settings. The Molecular Diagnostics business unit offers polymerase chain reaction thermocyclers; amplification systems; and sample-to-result molecular instruments and tests for syndromic infectious disease diagnostics. The company sells its products directly to end users through a direct sales force; and through a network of distributors for professional use in physician offices, hospitals, clinical laboratories, reference laboratories, urgent care clinics, universities, retail clinics, pharmacies, wellness screening centers, blood banks, and donor centers, as well as for individual, non-professional, and over-the-counter use. It operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.