Reviewing Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) & Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO)

Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO) and Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Alpha Teknova and Harvard Bioscience”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alpha Teknova	$40.52 million	8.15	-$17.26 million	($0.31)	-19.84
Harvard Bioscience	$86.55 million	0.44	-$56.70 million	($2.31)	-3.61

Alpha Teknova has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Harvard Bioscience. Alpha Teknova is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Harvard Bioscience, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Alpha Teknova has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harvard Bioscience has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Alpha Teknova and Harvard Bioscience, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alpha Teknova	1	1	4	0	2.50
Harvard Bioscience	1	1	1	0	2.00

Alpha Teknova currently has a consensus price target of $8.75, indicating a potential upside of 42.28%. Harvard Bioscience has a consensus price target of $6.75, indicating a potential downside of 19.06%. Given Alpha Teknova’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alpha Teknova is more favorable than Harvard Bioscience.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.8% of Alpha Teknova shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Harvard Bioscience shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.2% of Alpha Teknova shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Harvard Bioscience shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Alpha Teknova and Harvard Bioscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alpha Teknova	-38.37%	-24.94%	-16.53%
Harvard Bioscience	-11.86%	-33.13%	-4.80%

About Alpha Teknova

Alpha Teknova, Inc. produces critical reagents for the research, discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, vaccines, and molecular diagnostics in the United States and internationally. The company offers pre-poured media plates for cell growth and cloning; liquid cell culture media and supplements for cellular expansion; and molecular biology reagents for sample manipulation, resuspension, and purification. It provides lab essentials which provides chemical formulations for use in biological research and drug discovery; and clinical solutions, a custom product used in the development and production of protein therapies, gene therapies, mRNA vaccines, and diagnostic kits. The company serves its products to life sciences market, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract development and manufacturing organizations, in vitro diagnostic franchises, as well as academic and government research institutions. Alpha Teknova, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Hollister, California.

About Harvard Bioscience

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells technologies, products, and services for life science applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers cellular and molecular technology products, such as syringe and peristaltic infusion pump products; electroporation and electrofusion instruments, amino acid analyzers, spectrophotometers, and other equipment for molecular level testing and research; and precision scientific measuring instrumentation and equipment, including data acquisition systems for cellular analysis, complete micro electrode array solutions for in vivo recordings, and in vitro systems for extracellular recordings. It also provides preclinical products that includes platform to assess physiological data from organisms for research, drug discovery, and drug development services comprising implantable and externally worn telemetry systems for use in research to collect cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory, and metabolic data; behavioral products; isolated organ and surgical products, instruments and accessories for tissue, and organ-based lab research, including surgical products, infusion systems, and behavior research systems; turn-key respiratory system solutions, including plethysmograph chambers, data acquisition hardware, physiological signal analysis software, and final report generation; inhalation and exposure systems; and GLP-capable data acquisition and analysis systems. The company markets its products through sales organizations, websites, and distributors to research scientists in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, hospitals, and government laboratories; and contract research organizations and academic labs. It primarily sells its products under Harvard Apparatus, DSI, Buxco, Biochrom, BTX, Heka, Hugo Sachs, Multichannel Systems MCS GmbH, and Panlab brands. Harvard Bioscience, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is based in Holliston, Massachusetts.