Financial Review: Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) vs. LENSAR (NASDAQ:LNSR)

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) and LENSAR (NASDAQ:LNSR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Edwards Lifesciences and LENSAR”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edwards Lifesciences	$6.07 billion	8.00	$1.07 billion	$1.83	46.01
LENSAR	$58.44 million	1.05	-$34.28 million	($2.90)	-1.76

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

Volatility and Risk

Edwards Lifesciences has a beta of 0.95, indicating that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LENSAR has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.5% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.2% of LENSAR shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 66.0% of LENSAR shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Edwards Lifesciences and LENSAR, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edwards Lifesciences	0	9	16	3	2.79
LENSAR	1	0	2	0	2.33

Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus target price of $95.39, indicating a potential upside of 13.29%. LENSAR has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 96.46%. Given LENSAR’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe LENSAR is more favorable than Edwards Lifesciences.

Profitability

This table compares Edwards Lifesciences and LENSAR’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edwards Lifesciences	17.69%	14.50%	11.21%
LENSAR	-58.66%	N/A	-48.11%

Summary

Edwards Lifesciences beats LENSAR on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names. The company also provides surgical structural heart solutions, such as aortic surgical valve under the INSPIRIS name; INSPIRIS RESILLA aortic valve, which offers RESILIA tissue and VFit technology; KONECT RESILIA, a pre-assembled tissue valves conduit for complex combined procedures; and MITRIS RESILIA valve. In addition, it offers critical care solutions, including hemodynamic monitoring systems to measure a patient’s heart function and fluid status in surgical and intensive care settings under the FloTrac, Acumen IQ sensors, ClearSight, Acumen IQ cuffs, and ForeSight names; HemoSphere, a monitoring platform that displays physiological information; and Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index software that alerts clinicians in advance of a patient developing dangerously low blood pressure. The company distributes its products through a direct sales force and independent distributors. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About LENSAR

LENSAR, Inc., a commercial-stage medical device company, focuses on designing, developing, and marketing a femtosecond laser system for the treatment of cataracts and the management of pre-existing or surgically induced corneal astigmatism. It offers LENSAR Laser System that incorporates a range of proprietary technologies designed to assist the surgeon in obtaining visual outcomes, efficiency, and reproducibility by providing imaging, procedure planning, design, and precision. The company also offers ALLY Adaptive Cataract Treatment System, a platform design to femtosecond laser technology features that enhanced laser capabilities into a single small unit that allows surgeons to perform a femtosecond laser assisted cataract procedure in a single operating room. LENSAR, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida.