Alphatec Holdings (NASDAQ: ATEC) and Cepheid (NASDAQ:CPHD) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Alphatec Holdings and Cepheid, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Alphatec Holdings | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Cepheid | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Alphatec Holdings currently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 117.39%. Cepheid has a consensus target price of $48.00, indicating a potential downside of 9.35%. Given Alphatec Holdings’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Alphatec Holdings is more favorable than Cepheid.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
20.7% of Alphatec Holdings shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.8% of Cepheid shares are held by institutional investors. 34.9% of Alphatec Holdings shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Cepheid shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Volatility and Risk
Alphatec Holdings has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cepheid has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Alphatec Holdings and Cepheid’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Alphatec Holdings | -25.13% | N/A | -31.74% |
| Cepheid | -6.88% | -11.54% | -5.18% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Alphatec Holdings and Cepheid’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Alphatec Holdings | N/A | N/A | N/A | ($3.01) | -0.61 |
| Cepheid | N/A | N/A | N/A | ($0.69) | -76.74 |
Cepheid is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alphatec Holdings, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Alphatec Holdings beats Cepheid on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Alphatec Holdings
Alphatec Holdings, Inc. is a medical technology company. The Company through its subsidiary, Alphatec Spine, Inc. and its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures and markets products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders. Its product portfolio and pipeline addresses the cervical, thoracolumbar and intervertebral regions of the spine and covers a range of spinal disorders and surgical procedures. Its products include Cervical and Cervico-Thoracic Products, which include Trestle Luxe Anterior Cervical Plate System and Pegasus Anchored Cervical Interbody; Thoracolumbar Fixation Products, which include Arsenal Degenerative System and OsseoScrew Spinal Fixation System; Spinal Spacers, which include Battalion Universal Spacer System and Alphatec Solus Locking ALIF Spinal Spacer; minimally invasive surgery Products, which include Illico Minimally Invasive Surgery System and BridgePoint Spinous Process Fixation System, and Biologics, which include Neocore Osteoconductive Matrix.
About Cepheid
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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