Accelerate Diagnostics (NASDAQ: AXDX) and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitabiliy and risk.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
37.4% of Accelerate Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.0% of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. 51.4% of Accelerate Diagnostics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Accelerate Diagnostics and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Accelerate Diagnostics | $612,999.00 | 2,359.78 | -$63.33 million | ($1.27) | -21.89 |
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation | $3.15 billion | 7.72 | $1.01 billion | $3.02 | 38.37 |
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has higher revenue and earnings than Accelerate Diagnostics. Accelerate Diagnostics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Accelerate Diagnostics and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Accelerate Diagnostics | -11,158.43% | -76.35% | -71.90% |
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation | 20.85% | 25.80% | 15.36% |
Volatility & Risk
Accelerate Diagnostics has a beta of 1.98, indicating that its stock price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Accelerate Diagnostics and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Accelerate Diagnostics | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Edwards Lifesciences Corporation | 1 | 5 | 15 | 1 | 2.73 |
Accelerate Diagnostics presently has a consensus target price of $30.33, suggesting a potential upside of 9.11%. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation has a consensus target price of $114.95, suggesting a potential downside of 0.79%. Given Accelerate Diagnostics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Accelerate Diagnostics is more favorable than Edwards Lifesciences Corporation.
Summary
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation beats Accelerate Diagnostics on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
Accelerate Diagnostics Company Profile
Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. is an in vitro diagnostics company engaged in providing solutions that develop patient outcomes through the diagnosis of serious infections. The Company’s in vitro diagnostic platform, the Accelerate Pheno system utilizes genotypic technology to identify (ID), infectious pathogens and phenotypic technology to conduct antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST), which determines whether live bacterial or fungal cells are resistant or susceptible to a particular antibiotic. It detects and identifies pathogens directly from a single patient sample followed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing based on the identification results. The Accelerate PhenoTest BC Kit provides ID and AST results for patients suspected of bacteremia or fungemia, both life-threatening conditions with high morbidity and mortality risk. The Accelerate Pheno system features walk-away automation and consists of a fixed instrument and single-use test kit.
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation Company Profile
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation is a manufacturer of heart valve systems and repair products used to replace or repair a patient’s diseased or defective heart valve. The Company is engaged in patient-focused innovations for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. Its segments include United States, Europe, Japan and Rest of World. Its products are categorized into three areas: Transcatheter Heart Valve Therapy, Surgical Heart Valve Therapy and Critical Care. It also develops hemodynamic monitoring systems that are used to measure a patient’s cardiovascular function in the hospital setting. It is developing products, such as the Edwards SAPIEN 3 Ultra System and Edwards SAPIEN XT transcatheter heart valve, among others. Its Transcatheter Heart Valve Therapy and Surgical Heart Valve Therapy products are manufactured in the United States, Singapore and Switzerland. Critical Care products are manufactured in its facilities located in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
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