Head to Head Survey: Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) vs. QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL)

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) and QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and QuidelOrtho”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bio-Rad Laboratories	$2.58 billion	2.91	$759.90 million	$6.07	46.28
QuidelOrtho	$2.73 billion	0.31	-$1.13 billion	($17.82)	-0.69

Bio-Rad Laboratories has higher earnings, but lower revenue than QuidelOrtho. QuidelOrtho is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bio-Rad Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Bio-Rad Laboratories has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QuidelOrtho has a beta of 0.77, meaning that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Bio-Rad Laboratories and QuidelOrtho, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bio-Rad Laboratories	1	3	1	0	2.00
QuidelOrtho	2	4	0	0	1.67

Bio-Rad Laboratories currently has a consensus target price of $303.33, suggesting a potential upside of 7.98%. QuidelOrtho has a consensus target price of $14.88, suggesting a potential upside of 20.25%. Given QuidelOrtho’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe QuidelOrtho is more favorable than Bio-Rad Laboratories.

Profitability

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and QuidelOrtho’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bio-Rad Laboratories	6.52%	3.56%	2.49%
QuidelOrtho	-45.57%	4.25%	1.56%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.2% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.0% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.3% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Bio-Rad Laboratories beats QuidelOrtho on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets. It also designs, manufactures, markets, and supports test systems, informatics systems, test kits, and specialized quality controls for hospitals, diagnostic reference, transfusion, and physician office laboratories. The company offers its products through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors, agents, brokers, and resellers. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hercules, California.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho Corporation provides diagnostic testing solutions. The company operates through Labs, Transfusion Medicine, Point-of-Care, and Molecular Diagnostics business units. The Labs business unit provides clinical chemistry laboratory instruments and tests that measure target chemicals in bodily fluids for the evaluation of health and the clinical management of patients; immunoassay laboratory instruments and tests, which measure proteins as they act as antigens in the spread of disease, antibodies in the immune response spurred by disease, or markers of proper organ function and health; testing products to detect and monitor disease progression across a spectrum of therapeutic areas; and specialized diagnostic solutions. The Transfusion Medicine business unit offers immunohematology instruments and tests used for blood typing to ensure patient-donor compatibility in blood transfusions; and donor screening instruments and tests used for blood and plasma screening for infectious diseases. The Point-of-Care business unit provides instruments and tests to provide rapid results across a continuum of point-of-care settings. The Molecular Diagnostics business unit offers polymerase chain reaction thermocyclers; amplification systems; and sample-to-result molecular instruments and tests for syndromic infectious disease diagnostics. The company sells its products directly to end users through a direct sales force; and through a network of distributors for professional use in physician offices, hospitals, clinical laboratories, reference laboratories, urgent care clinics, universities, retail clinics, pharmacies, wellness screening centers, blood banks, and donor centers, as well as for individual, non-professional, and over-the-counter use. It operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.