Analyzing Olympus (OTCMKTS:OCPNY) and Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO)

Olympus (OTCMKTS:OCPNY) and Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) are both large-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Olympus and Cooper Companies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Olympus	$7.74 billion	2.99	$1.03 billion	$0.82	21.95
Cooper Companies	$4.24 billion	2.54	$374.90 million	$2.93	19.31

Olympus has higher revenue and earnings than Cooper Companies. Cooper Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Olympus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Olympus and Cooper Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Olympus	13.80%	24.30%	9.30%
Cooper Companies	13.46%	10.90%	7.24%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Olympus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 24.4% of Cooper Companies shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Cooper Companies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Olympus has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cooper Companies has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Olympus and Cooper Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Olympus	0	0	1	0	3.00
Cooper Companies	2	13	4	0	2.11

Cooper Companies has a consensus target price of $68.60, suggesting a potential upside of 21.25%. Given Cooper Companies’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cooper Companies is more favorable than Olympus.

Summary

Olympus beats Cooper Companies on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Olympus

Olympus Corp. engages in the manufacture and sale of precision machineries and instruments. It operates through the following segments: Medical, Scientific Solutions, Imaging, and Others. The Medical segment covers digestive, surgical, and ultrasonic endoscopy as well as endoscopic treatment tools. The Scientific Solutions segment manufactures and sells biological and industrial microscopes, industrial endoscopes, and non-destructive testing equipment. The Imaging segment deals with digital cameras and recording devices. The Others segment includes biomaterial manufacturing and sales business. The company was founded by Takeshi Yamashita on October 12, 1919 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Cooper Companies

The Cooper Companies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets contact lens wearers. The company operates in two segments, CooperVision and CooperSurgical. The CooperVision segment provides spherical lense, including lenses that correct near and farsightedness; and toric and multifocal lenses comprising lenses correcting vision challenges, such as astigmatism, presbyopia, and myopia in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. The CooperSurgical segment focuses on family and women's health care, which provides fertility products and services, medical devices, and contraception, as well as cryostorage, such as cord blood and cord tissue storage to health care professionals and patients worldwide. It offers surgical and office products, including endosee endometrial imaging products, fetal pillow cephalic elevation devices for use in cesarean sections, illuminated speculum products, lone star retractor systems, loop electrosurgical excision procedure products, mara water ablation systems, paragard contraceptive IUDs, point-of-care, and uterine positioning products, as well as cryostorage, such as cord blood and cord tissue storage; fertility products and services, such as fertility consumables and equipment, donor gamete services, and genomic services, including genetic testing. The company sells its products to distributors, group purchasing organizations, eye care and health care professionals, including independent practices, corporate retailers, hospitals and clinics, and authorized resellers. The Cooper Companies, Inc. was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in San Ramon, California.