Analyzing Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE:FMS) and Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN)

Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE:FMS) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Exagen has a beta of 2.25, indicating that its share price is 125% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Exagen and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exagen	1	0	7	1	2.89
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA	4	7	0	0	1.64

Exagen presently has a consensus price target of $10.12, suggesting a potential upside of 20.68%. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA has a consensus price target of $23.42, suggesting a potential upside of 3.49%. Given Exagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Exagen is more favorable than Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA.

Profitability

This table compares Exagen and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exagen	-26.61%	-104.46%	-28.93%
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA	4.83%	9.28%	4.16%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.2% of Exagen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.4% of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Exagen shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Exagen and Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exagen	$66.57 million	3.05	-$19.95 million	($0.81)	-10.36
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA	$19.43 billion	0.62	$1.11 billion	$1.93	11.73

Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA has higher revenue and earnings than Exagen. Exagen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Exagen beats Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exagen

Exagen Inc. develops and commercializes various testing products under the AVISE brand in the United States. The company enables healthcare providers to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its lead testing product is AVISE CTD that enables differential diagnosis for patients presenting with symptoms indicative of various connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and other related diseases with overlapping symptoms. The company offers AVISE Lupus that measures activation of the complement system by quantifying the level of B-cell C4d and erythrocyte bound C4d in the patient's blood; and AVISE APS, which consists of a panel of autoantibody tests that aids in the diagnosis and management of APS. In addition, it provides AVISE Vasculitis AAV, which utilizes a testing panel of individual analytes to provide physicians with results in the assessment and monitoring of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis; AVISE SLE Prognostic, a panel of autoantibodies for assessing the potential for complications affecting the kidney, brain, and cardiovascular system; and AVISE Anti-CarP test, which identifies RA patients with severe disease. Further, the company offers AVISE SLE Monitor, a biomarker blood test; AVISE MTX, a patented and validated blood test; and AVISE HCQ, a blood test to monitor levels of hydroxychloroquine. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Research Institute to develop novel patented biomarkers. The company was formerly known as Exagen Diagnostics, Inc. and changed its name to Exagen Inc. in January 2019. Exagen Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vista, California.

About Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA

Fresenius Medical Care AG provides dialysis and related services for individuals with renal diseases in Germany, North America, and internationally. The company offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. It also develops, manufactures, and distributes various health care products, including polysulfone dialyzers, hemodialysis machines, peritoneal dialysis cyclers, peritoneal dialysis solutions, hemodialysis concentrates, solutions and granulates, bloodlines, renal pharmaceuticals, systems for water treatment, and acute cardiopulmonary and apheresis products. In addition, the company develops, acquires, and in-licenses renal pharmaceuticals; offers renal medications and supplies to patients at homes or to dialysis clinics; and provides vascular, cardiovascular, endovascular specialty, vascular care ambulatory surgery center, and physician nephrology and cardiology services. The company sells its products to dialysis clinics, hospitals, and specialized treatment clinics directly, as well as through local sales forces, independent distributors, dealers, and sales agents. Fresenius Medical Care AG was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.