Thoratec (NASDAQ: THOR) and Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and profitability.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Thoratec and Harvard Bioscience, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Thoratec | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Harvard Bioscience | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
Harvard Bioscience has a consensus price target of $5.75, suggesting a potential upside of 112.96%. Given Harvard Bioscience’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Harvard Bioscience is more favorable than Thoratec.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
62.2% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by institutional investors. 9.8% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Thoratec and Harvard Bioscience’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | EBITDA | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Thoratec | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Harvard Bioscience | $100.79 million | 0.93 | $3.21 million | ($0.13) | -20.77 |
Harvard Bioscience has higher revenue and earnings than Thoratec.
Profitability
This table compares Thoratec and Harvard Bioscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Thoratec | 10.29% | 8.02% | 6.71% |
| Harvard Bioscience | -4.37% | 1.45% | 0.99% |
Summary
Harvard Bioscience beats Thoratec on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.
Thoratec Company Profile
Thoratec Corporation develops, manufactures and markets medical devices used for mechanical circulatory support for the treatment of heart failure patients. The Company’s products include ventricular assist devices (VADs), such as HeartMate II Left Ventricular Assist System (HeartMate II), HeartMate III Left Ventricular Assist System, Thoratec Paracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device (PVAD) and Thoratec Implantable Ventricular Assist Device (IVAD). For acute circulatory support, the Company’s product lines are CentriMag Acute Circulatory System (CentriMag) and for pediatric patients PediMag/PediVAS Acute Circulatory System (PediMag/PediVAS). HeartMate III, a centrifugal-flow, chronic, left ventricular assist system.
Harvard Bioscience Company Profile
Harvard Bioscience, Inc. is a developer, manufacturer and marketer of a range of scientific instruments, systems and lab consumables used for basic research, drug discovery, clinical and environmental testing. The Company’s products are sold to thousands of researchers in over 100 countries through its global sales organization, Websites, catalogs and through distributors. The Company’s product range is organized into three commercial product families: Cell and Animal Physiology (CAP), Lab Products and Services (LPS), and Molecular Separation and Analysis (MSA). The Company sells these products under brand names, including Harvard Apparatus, KD Scientific, Denville Scientific, AHN, Hoefer, Biochrom, BTX, Warner Instruments, MCS, HEKA, Hugo Sachs Elektronik, Panlab, Coulbourn Instruments, TBSI and CMA Microdialysis. The Company’s products consist of instruments, consumables and systems that are made up of various individual products.
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