Head to Head Review: Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) vs. Phreesia (NYSE:PHR)

Phreesia (NYSE:PHR) and Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.1% of Phreesia shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.1% of Azenta shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Phreesia shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.6% of Azenta shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Phreesia and Azenta, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phreesia	1	0	12	1	2.93
Azenta	1	3	3	0	2.29

Phreesia currently has a consensus price target of $33.85, indicating a potential upside of 48.77%. Azenta has a consensus price target of $36.20, indicating a potential upside of 18.07%. Given Phreesia’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Phreesia is more favorable than Azenta.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Phreesia and Azenta”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phreesia	$449.67 million	3.03	-$58.53 million	($0.42)	-54.17
Azenta	$668.82 million	2.10	-$164.17 million	($2.42)	-12.67

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

Profitability

This table compares Phreesia and Azenta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phreesia	-5.35%	-8.75%	-6.12%
Azenta	-18.45%	1.35%	1.13%

Volatility and Risk

Phreesia has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Azenta has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Phreesia beats Azenta on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phreesia

Phreesia, Inc. provides an integrated SaaS-based software and payment platform for the healthcare industry in the United States and Canada. The company offers access solutions that offers appointment scheduling system for online appointments, reminders, and referral tracking management; registration solution to automate patient self-registration; revenue cycle solution, which offer insurance-verification processes, point-of-sale payments applications, post-visit payment collection, and flexible payment options; and network connect solution to deliver clinically relevant content to patients. The company deploys its platform in a range of modalities, such as Phreesia Mobile, a patients' mobile device; Phreesia Dashboard, a web-based dashboard for healthcare services clients; PhreesiaPads, a self-service intake tablets; and Arrivals Kiosks, an on-site kiosks. It serves patients; single-specialty practices, multi-specialty groups, and health systems; and pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.

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.