Critical Contrast: HealthEquity (NASDAQ:HQY) versus Fluidigm Corporation (FLDM)

HealthEquity (NASDAQ: HQY) and Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitabiliy, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

HealthEquity has a beta of 1.79, indicating that its stock price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fluidigm Corporation has a beta of 3.46, indicating that its stock price is 246% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for HealthEquity and Fluidigm Corporation, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HealthEquity	0	1	11	0	2.92
Fluidigm Corporation	0	0	2	0	3.00

HealthEquity currently has a consensus target price of $49.75, suggesting a potential upside of 1.34%. Fluidigm Corporation has a consensus target price of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 172.02%. Given Fluidigm Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fluidigm Corporation is more favorable than HealthEquity.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares HealthEquity and Fluidigm Corporation’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HealthEquity	$189.78 million	15.51	$57.61 million	$0.54	90.91
Fluidigm Corporation	$100.98 million	1.12	-$64.73 million	($2.52)	-1.53

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

90.4% of HealthEquity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Fluidigm Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. 19.0% of HealthEquity shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.7% of Fluidigm Corporation shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares HealthEquity and Fluidigm Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HealthEquity	17.04%	11.61%	11.06%
Fluidigm Corporation	-72.60%	-94.93%	-18.36%

Summary

HealthEquity beats Fluidigm Corporation on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HealthEquity

HealthEquity, Inc. provides a range of solutions for managing healthcare accounts (Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)) for health plans, insurance companies and third-party administrators. The Company is engaged in technology-enabled services platforms that allow consumers to make healthcare saving and spending decisions. Its platform provides an ecosystem where consumers can access their tax-advantaged healthcare savings, compare treatment options and pricing, evaluate and pay healthcare bills, receive personalized benefit and clinical information, earn wellness incentives and make educated investment choices to help in their tax-advantaged healthcare savings. Its products and services include healthcare saving and spending platform, health savings accounts, investment advisory services, reimbursement arrangements and healthcare incentives. Its ecosystem primarily consists of HSA.

About Fluidigm Corporation

Fluidigm Corporation creates, manufactures and markets technologies and life science tools focused on the exploration and analysis of single cells, as well as the industrial application of genomics, based upon the Company’s core microfluidics and mass cytometry technologies. The Company operates in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of life science tools for the life science and Ag-Bio industries segment. Its products include preparatory instruments, preparatory analytical instruments, analytical instruments, integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs), and assays and reagents. Its preparatory instruments include C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep System, Access Array System, Juno System and IFCs, and Callisto System and IFC. Its analytical instruments include Biomark HD System, EP1 System and Helios/CyTOF 2 System. Its assays and reagents include Delta Gene and SNP Type Assays, and Access Array Target-Specific Primers and Targeted Sequencing Prep Primers.