ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) versus Ambu A/S (OTCMKTS:AMBBY) Head-To-Head Review

Ambu A/S (OTCMKTS:AMBBY) and ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Ambu A/S and ICU Medical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ambu A/S	8.18%	8.56%	6.81%
ICU Medical	1.39%	7.91%	4.17%

Volatility & Risk

Ambu A/S has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICU Medical has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.1% of ICU Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of ICU Medical shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ambu A/S and ICU Medical”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ambu A/S	$894.37 million	2.69	$90.19 million	$0.30	34.17
ICU Medical	$2.23 billion	1.70	$730,000.00	$1.18	128.71

Ambu A/S has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ICU Medical. Ambu A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ICU Medical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Ambu A/S and ICU Medical, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ambu A/S	0	1	0	0	2.00
ICU Medical	0	3	4	2	2.89

ICU Medical has a consensus price target of $192.80, indicating a potential upside of 26.95%. Given ICU Medical’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ICU Medical is more favorable than Ambu A/S.

Summary

ICU Medical beats Ambu A/S on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ambu A/S

Ambu A/S develops, produces, and sells medical devices to hospitals, clinics, and rescue services worldwide. The company offers anaesthesia, and patient monitoring and diagnostics products. The company also offers endoscopy products, such as bronchoscopes, rhinolaryngoscopes, duodenoscopes, cystoscopes, and display units; and neurology products, including EEG and EMG electrodes, EMG guided injections, and intraoperative monitoring products. It also provides cardiology products consisting of airway management and anaesthesia products, such as bronchoscopes, video laryngoscopes, double and single lumen tubes, endobronchial blockers, laryngeal and face masks, breathing bags, and resuscitators. In addition, the company offers extrication collars, CPR breathing barriers, video laryngoscopes, and training manikins. The company was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Ballerup, Denmark.

About ICU Medical

ICU Medical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices used in infusion therapy, vascular access, and vital care applications worldwide. Its infusion therapy products include needlefree products under the MicroClave, MicroClave Clear, and NanoClave brands; Neutron catheter patency devices; ChemoClave and ChemoLock closed system transfer devices, which are used to limit the escape of hazardous drugs or vapor concentrations, block the transfer of environmental contaminants into the system, and eliminates the risk of needlestick injury; Tego needle free connectors; Deltec GRIPPER non-coring needles for portal access; and ClearGuard, SwabCap, and SwabTip disinfection caps. The company provides IV therapy and diluents, such as sodium chloride, dextrose, balanced electrolyte solutions, lactated ringer's, ringer's, mannitol, sodium chloride/dextrose, and sterile water; and irrigation solutions comprising sodium chloride and sterile water irrigation, physiologic solutions, ringer's irrigation, acetic acid irrigation, glycine irrigation, sorbitol-mannitol irrigation, flexible containers, and pour bottle options. It offers infusion pumps under the Plum 360 and Plum Duo brands; ambulatory and syringe infusion hardware products; IV mediation safety software, including ICU Medical MedNet, an enterprise-class medication management platform; LifeShield and PharmGuard medication infusion safety software; hemodynamic monitoring products; anesthesia systems and devices, breathing circuits, ventilation, respiratory, and specialty airway products; temperature management solutions; anesthesia/pain management trays and components; and professional services. The company's customers include acute care hospitals, wholesalers, ambulatory clinics, and alternate site facilities, including outpatient clinics, home health care providers, and long-term care facilities. ICU Medical, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in San Clemente, California.