Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR – Get Free Report) and Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.
Volatility and Risk
Bruker has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mesa Laboratories has a beta of 0.92, suggesting that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Bruker and Mesa Laboratories, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Bruker | 2 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2.40 |
| Mesa Laboratories | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.67 |
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Bruker and Mesa Laboratories”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Bruker | $3.44 billion | 2.85 | -$8.60 million | ($0.24) | -267.96 |
| Mesa Laboratories | $249.13 million | 2.35 | $6.71 million | $1.20 | 87.03 |
Mesa Laboratories has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Bruker. Bruker is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Bruker pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Mesa Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Bruker pays out -83.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mesa Laboratories pays out 53.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
79.5% of Bruker shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.6% of Mesa Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. 27.2% of Bruker shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Mesa Laboratories shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Bruker and Mesa Laboratories’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Bruker | -0.65% | 11.60% | 4.25% |
| Mesa Laboratories | 2.69% | 20.96% | 8.78% |
Summary
Mesa Laboratories beats Bruker on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Bruker
Bruker Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and distributes scientific instruments, and analytical and diagnostic solutions in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Bruker Scientific Instruments (BSI) BioSpin, BSI CALID, BSI Nano, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies. It offers life science tools, and single and multiple modality systems; life science mass spectrometry; MALDI Biotyper rapid pathogen identification platform and related test kits, DNA test strips, and fluorescence-based polymerase chain reaction technology; genotype and fluorotype molecular diagnostics kits; research, analytical, and process analysis instruments and solutions; SARS-CoV 2 testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19 infection; and Fluorotyper-SARS-CoV 2 plus kits. It also provides range of portable analytical and bioanalytical detection systems, and related products; X-ray instruments; analytical tools for electron microscopes, as well as handheld, portable, and mobile X-ray fluorescence spectrometry instruments; atomic force microscopy instrumentation; non-contact nanometer resolution solution topography; and automated X-ray metrology, automated AFM defect-detection, and photomask repair and cleaning equipment. In addition, the company offers advanced optical fluorescence microscopy instruments; products and services to support the multi-omics needs of researchers in translational research, drug, and biomarker discovery; superconducting materials, such as metallic low temperature superconductors; devices and complex tools based on metallic low temperature superconductors; and non-superconducting high technology tools, such as synchrotron and beamline instrumentation. The company was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts.
About Mesa Laboratories
Mesa Laboratories, Inc. develops, designs, manufactures, sells, and services life sciences tools and quality control products and services in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The Sterilization and Disinfection Control segment offers biological, chemical, and cleaning indicators, used to assess the effectiveness of sterilization decontamination, disinfection, and cleaning processes in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare industries. This segment also provides testing and laboratory services to the dental and pharmaceutical industries. The Clinical Genomics segment offers MassARRAY, a genetic analysis tool system, and related consumables, including chips, panels, and chemical reagent solutions used by clinical labs to analyze DNA samples for inherited genetic disease testing, pharmacogenetics, oncology testing, infectious disease testing, doping and toxicology testing, and other differentiated applications for use in research. The Biopharmaceutical Development segment provides automated systems, such as Gyrolab xPand and Gyrolab xPlore hardware and software, Gyrolab Bioaffy consumable microfluidic disks, Gyrolab kits and Rexxip buffers for protein analysis; PurePep Chorus and Symphony instruments for peptide synthesis; and PurePep EasyClean products for purifying peptides. The Calibration Solutions segment offers quality control products to measure and calibrate critical parameters in applications, such as environmental and process monitoring, dialysis, gas flow, air quality, and torque testing in medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory, and hospital environments. This segment’s products include continuous monitoring systems, dialysate meters and consumables, data loggers, gas flow calibration and air sampling equipment, and torque testing systems, offered under DialyGuard, ViewPoint, DataTrace, DryCal, and BGI brands. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.
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