Avantor (NYSE:AVTR – Get Free Report) and Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Avantor and Azenta, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Avantor | 1 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 2.06 |
| Azenta | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2.43 |
Avantor currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential downside of 18.95%. Azenta has a consensus price target of $41.20, indicating a potential upside of 34.05%. Given Azenta’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Azenta is more favorable than Avantor.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Avantor | -8.81% | 9.92% | 4.75% |
| Azenta | -20.63% | 1.18% | 0.97% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
95.1% of Avantor shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.1% of Azenta shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Avantor shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Azenta shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Risk & Volatility
Avantor has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Azenta has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Avantor and Azenta”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Avantor | $6.55 billion | 1.53 | -$530.20 million | ($0.84) | -17.62 |
| Azenta | $593.82 million | 2.27 | -$55.76 million | ($2.76) | -11.14 |
Azenta has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Avantor. Avantor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Azenta, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Azenta beats Avantor on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Avantor
Avantor, Inc. engages in the provision of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education and government, advanced technologies, and applied materials industries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers materials and consumables, such as purity chemicals and reagents, lab products and supplies, formulated silicone materials, customized excipients, customized single-use assemblies, process chromatography resins and columns, analytical sample prep kits, education and microbiology products, clinical trial kits, peristaltic pumps, and fluid handling tips. It also provides equipment and instrumentation products, including filtration systems, virus inactivation systems, incubators, analytical instruments, evaporators, ultra-low-temperature freezers, biological safety cabinets, and critical environment supplies. In addition, the company offers services and specialty procurements comprising onsite lab and production, clinical, equipment, procurement and sourcing, and biopharmaceutical material scale-up and development services. Further, it provides scientific research support services, such as DNA extraction, bioreactor servicing, clinical and biorepository, and compound management services. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
About Azenta
Azenta, Inc. provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services. The Life Sciences Products segment offers automated cold storage solutions, consumables and instruments, controlled rate thawing devices, and temperature-controlled storage and transportation solutions. This segment also provides sample management solutions, such as consumable vials and tubes, polymerase chain reaction, plates, instruments for supporting workflows, and informatics. The Life Sciences Services segment provides genomic services, that includes gene sequencing and gene synthesis services; and sample repository solutions, such as on-site and off-site sample storage, cold chain logistics, sample transport and collection relocation, bio-processing solutions, disaster recovery and business continuity, and biospecimen procurement services, as well as project management and consulting services for genomic analysis and the management and care of biological samples used in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, clinical, and academic research, and development sectors. It serves a range of life science customers, including pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, biorepositories, and research institutes. The company was formerly known as Brooks Automation, Inc. and changed its name to Azenta, Inc. in December 2021. Azenta, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.
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