Reviewing Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) & KORU Medical Systems (NASDAQ:KRMD)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and KORU Medical Systems (NASDAQ:KRMD) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Abbott Laboratories and KORU Medical Systems, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Abbott Laboratories	0	5	21	2	2.89
KORU Medical Systems	1	1	4	0	2.50

Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus target price of $118.32, suggesting a potential upside of 8.13%. KORU Medical Systems has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 125.81%. Given KORU Medical Systems’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe KORU Medical Systems is more favorable than Abbott Laboratories.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Abbott Laboratories and KORU Medical Systems”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Abbott Laboratories	$44.33 billion	4.27	$6.52 billion	$2.68	40.83
KORU Medical Systems	$41.13 million	3.46	-$2.64 million	($0.04)	-77.50

Abbott Laboratories has higher revenue and earnings than KORU Medical Systems. KORU Medical Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Abbott Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KORU Medical Systems has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 58.6% of KORU Medical Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.5% of KORU Medical Systems shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Abbott Laboratories and KORU Medical Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Abbott Laboratories	9.75%	17.97%	9.22%
KORU Medical Systems	-4.03%	-10.63%	-6.51%

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats KORU Medical Systems on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon. It also offers laboratory and transfusion medicine systems in the areas of immunoassay, clinical chemistry, hematology, and transfusion; molecular diagnostics polymerase chain reaction instrument systems that automate the extraction, purification, and preparation of DNA and RNA from patient samples, and detect and measure infectious agents; point of care systems; cartridges for testing blood gas, chemistry, electrolytes, coagulation, and immunoassay; rapid diagnostics lateral flow testing products; molecular point-of-care testing for HIV, SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B, RSV, and strep A; cardiometabolic test systems; drug and alcohol test, and remote patient monitoring and consumer self-test systems; and informatics and automation solutions for laboratories. In addition, the company provides pediatric and adult nutritional products; rhythm management, electrophysiology, heart failure, vascular, and structural heart devices for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases; diabetes care products, such as glucose and blood glucose monitoring systems; and neuromodulation devices for the management of chronic pain and movement disorders. Abbott Laboratories was founded in 1888 and is based in North Chicago, Illinois.

About KORU Medical Systems

KORU Medical Systems, Inc. develops and manufactures medical devices and supplies in the United States and internationally. It offers the freedom infusion systems to deliver life-saving therapies to patients with chronic illnesses, such as primary immunodeficiency diseases, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Its products include the FREEDOM60 syringe infusion system, the FreedomEdge syringe driver, HIgH-Flo subcutaneous safety needle sets, and precision flow rate tubing products. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is based in Mahwah, New Jersey.