Comparing Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) and Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD)

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) and Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Personalis”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mettler-Toledo International	$4.03 billion	6.64	$869.19 million	$44.43	30.02
Personalis	$69.65 million	24.21	-$81.27 million	($1.09)	-14.77

Mettler-Toledo International has higher revenue and earnings than Personalis. Personalis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mettler-Toledo International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Mettler-Toledo International has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Personalis has a beta of 2.31, meaning that its share price is 131% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Mettler-Toledo International and Personalis, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mettler-Toledo International	1	9	6	0	2.31
Personalis	1	5	4	0	2.30

Mettler-Toledo International presently has a consensus price target of $1,446.36, indicating a potential upside of 8.44%. Personalis has a consensus price target of $14.54, indicating a potential downside of 9.72%. Given Mettler-Toledo International’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Mettler-Toledo International is more favorable than Personalis.

Profitability

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Personalis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mettler-Toledo International	21.91%	-1,212.14%	25.11%
Personalis	-153.84%	-46.47%	-35.30%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.1% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.9% of Personalis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Personalis shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Mettler-Toledo International beats Personalis on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mettler-Toledo International

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company’s laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, real-time analytics, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, density and refractometry, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform to manage and analyze data generated from its instruments. Its industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, metal detection equipment, x-ray systems, check weighing equipment, camera-based imaging equipment, track-and-trace solutions, and product inspection systems. The company’s retail weighing solutions consist of weighing and software solutions, AI-driven image recognition solution, and automated packaging and labelling solutions for the meat backroom. It serves the life science industry, independent research organizations, and testing labs; food and beverage manufacturers; food retailers; chemical, specialty chemical, and cosmetics companies; food retailers; transportation and logistics, metals, and electronics industries; and the academic community through its direct sales force and indirect distribution channels. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc. develops and markets advanced cancer genomic tests and analytics primarily in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. Its tests and analytics are used by pharmaceutical companies for translational research, biomarker discovery, and development of personalized cancer therapies, as well as advanced tests are used by physicians to detect cancer recurrence, monitor cancer evolution, and uncover insights for therapy selection. The company offers NeXT Personal, a tumor-informed liquid biopsy test for detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) and recurrence in cancer; and ImmunoID NeXT, a tissue-based test that combines whole exome (DNA) and whole transcriptome (RNA) sequencing data with advanced analytics to provide a multi-dimensional view of the tumor and the tumor microenvironment from a single sample. It also provides NeXT Personal Dx, a tumor-informed liquid biopsy test for detection of MRD and recurrence in cancer; and NeXT Dx, a comprehensive tumor profiling test that unlocks the entire exome (DNA) and transcriptome (RNA) with matched tumor-normal analysis. In addition, the company performs whole exome sequencing (WES) of cancer tissue and matched blood samples for diagnostic companies as an input to their products; and whole genome sequencing (WGS) on human samples for research projects, such as population sequencing initiatives, as well as offers sequencing and data analysis services to support population sequencing initiatives. Its customers include pharmaceutical companies, biopharmaceutical companies, diagnostics companies, universities, non-profits, government entities, and patients. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.