Critical Analysis: Repligen (NASDAQ:RGEN) vs. BG Medicine (OTCMKTS:BGMD)

BG Medicine (OTCMKTS:BGMD) and Repligen (NASDAQ:RGEN) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for BG Medicine and Repligen, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BG Medicine	0	0	0	0	0.00
Repligen	0	3	12	3	3.00

Repligen has a consensus price target of $166.43, indicating a potential downside of 8.12%. Given BG Medicine’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe BG Medicine is more favorable than Repligen.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.6% of Repligen shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of BG Medicine shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Repligen shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BG Medicine and Repligen”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BG Medicine	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Repligen	$785.10 million	13.02	$48.89 million	$0.73	248.12

Repligen has higher revenue and earnings than BG Medicine.

Risk & Volatility

BG Medicine has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Repligen has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BG Medicine and Repligen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BG Medicine	N/A	N/A	N/A
Repligen	5.29%	5.30%	3.79%

Summary

Repligen beats BG Medicine on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BG Medicine

BG Medicine, Inc. engages in the development and commercialization of diagnostic products used to guide the patients suffering from heart failure and related disorders in the United States. The company offers BGM Galectin-3 Test, an in vitro diagnostic device that measures galectin-3 in serum or plasma by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay on a microtiter plate platform; and CardioSCORE Test, a multi-analyte biomarker-based blood test used for the assessment of near-term risk of atherothrombotic cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and ischemic stroke. It has license, development, and commercialization agreements with Abbott Laboratories, bioMérieux SA, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc., and Alere Inc. for the automated instrument versions of galectin-3 test; and a strategic collaboration with Abbott Laboratories to develop and commercialize galectin-3 assay kits, and related control kits and calibrators. The company was formerly known as Beyond Genomics, Inc. and changed its name to BG Medicine, Inc. in October 2004. BG Medicine, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Repligen

Repligen Corporation develops and commercializes bioprocessing technologies and systems for use in biological drug manufacturing process in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It offers Protein A ligands that are the binding components of Protein A affinity chromatography resins; and cell culture growth factor products. The company’s chromatography products include OPUS pre-packed chromatography columns, which are used in the purification of biologics; and OPUS smaller-scale columns that are used in the high throughput process development screening, viral clearance validation studies, and scale down validation of chromatography processes. It also offers ELISA test kits; and chromatography resins under the CaptivA brand. In addition, the company provides filtration products, such as XCell Alternating Tangential Flow systems that are filtration devices used in upstream perfusion and cell culture processing; TangenX flat sheet cassettes, which are used in downstream biologic drug concentration, buffer exchange, and formulation processes; KrosFlo tangential flow filtration and tangential flow depth filtration systems; Spectra/Por laboratory and process dialysis products, and ProConnex TFDF flow paths. Further, it provides process analytics products, such as slope spectroscopy systems under the SoloVPE, FlowVPE, and FlowVPX brands. The company sells its products to life sciences, biopharmaceutical, and diagnostics companies; laboratory researchers; and contract manufacturing organizations. Repligen Corporation has collaboration agreements with Navigo Proteins GmbH to develop multiple affinity ligands. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.