Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) and Cepheid (NASDAQ:CPHD) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitabiliy, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares Myriad Genetics and Cepheid’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Myriad Genetics | 4.26% | 10.53% | 6.64% |
| Cepheid | -6.88% | -11.54% | -5.18% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Myriad Genetics and Cepheid, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Myriad Genetics | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1.77 |
| Cepheid | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Myriad Genetics currently has a consensus target price of $21.83, indicating a potential downside of 9.63%. Cepheid has a consensus target price of $45.40, indicating a potential downside of 14.26%. Given Myriad Genetics’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Myriad Genetics is more favorable than Cepheid.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
95.8% of Cepheid shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Myriad Genetics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Cepheid shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Myriad Genetics and Cepheid’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Myriad Genetics | $757.30 million | 2.17 | $122.60 million | $0.45 | 53.69 |
| Cepheid | N/A | N/A | N/A | ($0.69) | -76.74 |
Myriad Genetics has higher revenue and earnings than Cepheid. Cepheid is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Myriad Genetics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Myriad Genetics has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cepheid has a beta of 0.67, meaning that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Myriad Genetics beats Cepheid on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
Myriad Genetics Company Profile
Myriad Genetics, Inc. is a molecular diagnostic company. The Company is engaged in the discovery, development and marketing of transformative molecular diagnostic tests. The Company operates through two segments: diagnostics and other. The diagnostics segment provides testing and collaborative development of testing that is designed to assess an individual’s risk for developing disease later in life, identify a patient’s likelihood of responding to drug therapy and guide a patient’s dosing to enable optimal treatment, or assess a patient’s risk of disease progression and disease recurrence. The other segment provides testing products and services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical research industries, research and development, and clinical services for patients, and also includes corporate services, such as finance, human resources, legal and information technology. Its molecular diagnostic tests include myRisk Hereditary Cancer, BRACAnalysis CDx and COLARIS.
Cepheid Company Profile
Cepheid is a molecular diagnostics company. The Company develops, manufactures and markets fully-integrated systems for testing in the Clinical and Non-Clinical markets. The Company’s systems enable molecular testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases by automating otherwise complex manual laboratory procedures. The Company’s systems integrate these steps and analyze biological samples in test cartridges. Its primary offering is the GeneXpert system, which integrates sample preparation in addition to Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification and detection. The GeneXpert system is designed for a range of user types ranging from reference laboratories and hospital central laboratories to satellite testing locations, such as emergency departments and intensive care units within hospitals, as well as physician offices and other alternate site laboratories. It also offers the SmartCycler system, which integrates DNA amplification and detection to allow rapid analysis of a sample.
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