St Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) and ConforMIS (NASDAQ:CFMS) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitabiliy, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
82.7% of St Jude Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.2% of ConforMIS shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of St Jude Medical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of ConforMIS shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares St Jude Medical and ConforMIS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| St Jude Medical | 14.14% | 19.40% | 6.75% |
| ConforMIS | -74.55% | -60.57% | -50.04% |
Dividends
St Jude Medical pays an annual dividend of $1.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. ConforMIS does not pay a dividend. St Jude Medical pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ConforMIS has increased its dividend for 6 consecutive years.
Volatility & Risk
St Jude Medical has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ConforMIS has a beta of 2.15, indicating that its share price is 115% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares St Jude Medical and ConforMIS’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| St Jude Medical | N/A | N/A | N/A | $2.28 | 35.45 |
| ConforMIS | $80.10 million | 2.60 | -$55.08 million | ($1.42) | -3.35 |
St Jude Medical has higher revenue, but lower earnings than ConforMIS. ConforMIS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than St Jude Medical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for St Jude Medical and ConforMIS, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| St Jude Medical | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 |
| ConforMIS | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
St Jude Medical currently has a consensus price target of $77.25, suggesting a potential downside of 4.42%. ConforMIS has a consensus price target of $9.90, suggesting a potential upside of 108.42%. Given ConforMIS’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ConforMIS is more favorable than St Jude Medical.
Summary
ConforMIS beats St Jude Medical on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About St Jude Medical
St. Jude Medical, Inc. is focused on the development, manufacture and distribution of cardiovascular medical devices for the global cardiac rhythm management, cardiovascular and atrial fibrillation therapy areas, and interventional pain therapy and neurostimulation devices for the management of chronic pain and movement disorders. The Company’s product categories include tachycardia implantable cardioverter defibrillator systems; atrial fibrillation products (electrophysiology introducers and catheters, advanced cardiac mapping, navigation and recording systems and ablation systems); bradycardia pacemaker systems; vascular products (vascular closure products, pressure measurement guidewires, optical coherence tomography imaging products, vascular plugs, heart failure monitoring devices and other vascular accessories); structural heart products (heart valve replacement and repair products and structural heart defect devices); neuromodulation products, and Thoratec products.
About ConforMIS
ConforMIS, Inc. is a medical technology company. The Company uses its iFit Image-to-Implant technology platform to develop, manufacture and sell joint replacement implants, which are individually sized and shaped, to fit each patient’s anatomy. The Company’s iFit technology platform is applicable to various joints. It offers a line of customized knee implants designed to restore the natural shape of a patient’s knee. It offers iTotal CR, which is a total knee replacement implant. Its iFit technology platform consists of three elements, including iFit Design, its algorithms and computer software that is used to design customized implants and associated single-use patient-specific instrumentation referred to as iJigs, based on computed tomography scans of the patient and to prepare a surgical plan customized for the patient (iView); iFit Printing, which is a three-dimensional printing technology used to manufacture iJigs, and iFit Just-in-Time manufacturing and delivery capabilities.
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