Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) vs. Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) Head to Head Review

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ – Get Rating) and Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY – Get Rating) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, profitability and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Johnson & Johnson and Roche’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Johnson & Johnson	18.90%	35.94%	15.27%
Roche	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Johnson & Johnson and Roche’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Johnson & Johnson	$94.94 billion	4.52	$17.94 billion	$6.74	24.34
Roche	$68.72 billion	3.89	$15.24 billion	N/A	N/A

Johnson & Johnson has higher revenue and earnings than Roche.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Johnson & Johnson and Roche, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Johnson & Johnson	0	7	6	0	2.46
Roche	2	6	3	0	2.09

Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus price target of $185.23, indicating a potential upside of 12.98%. Roche has a consensus price target of $268.75, indicating a potential upside of 586.46%. Given Roche’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Roche is more favorable than Johnson & Johnson.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.9% of Johnson & Johnson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Roche shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Johnson & Johnson shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Johnson & Johnson has a beta of 0.56, suggesting that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Roche has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Johnson & Johnson pays an annual dividend of $4.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Roche pays an annual dividend of $0.78 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Johnson & Johnson pays out 67.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Johnson & Johnson has increased its dividend for 61 consecutive years. Johnson & Johnson is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Johnson & Johnson beats Roche on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Johnson & Johnson

(Get Rating)

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research and development, manufacture and sale of products in the health care field. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Health, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Devices. The Consumer Health segment includes products used in the baby care, oral care, beauty, over-the-counter pharmaceutical, women’s health, and wound care markets. The Pharmaceutical segment focuses on therapeutic areas, such as immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, pulmonary hypertension, and cardiovascular & metabolic diseases. The Medical Devices segment offers products used in the orthopedic, surgery, cardiovascular & neurovascular, and eye health fields. The company was founded by Robert Wood Johnson I, James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson Sr. in 1886 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, NJ.

About Roche

(Get Rating)

Roche Holding AG operates as a research healthcare company. It operates through the following divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. The Pharmaceutical division comprises the business segments, such as Roche Pharmaceuticals and Chuga. The Diagnostic division consists of the following four business areas: centralized and point of care solutions, molecular diagnostics, tissue diagnostics and diabetes care. The company was founded by Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche on October 1, 1896 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.