Critical Contrast: Ayr Wellness (OTCMKTS:AYRWF) vs. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Ayr Wellness (OTCMKTS:AYRWF) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Abbott Laboratories and Ayr Wellness, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Abbott Laboratories	0	5	19	2	2.88
Ayr Wellness	0	0	0	0	0.00

Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus price target of $119.43, indicating a potential upside of 38.07%. Given Abbott Laboratories’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Abbott Laboratories is more favorable than Ayr Wellness.

Volatility & Risk

Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ayr Wellness has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.9% of Ayr Wellness shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Ayr Wellness shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Abbott Laboratories and Ayr Wellness’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Abbott Laboratories	13.90%	17.62%	10.01%
Ayr Wellness	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Abbott Laboratories and Ayr Wellness”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Abbott Laboratories	$44.33 billion	3.40	$6.52 billion	$3.57	24.23
Ayr Wellness	$463.63 million	0.00	-$359.31 million	($2.67)	-0.01

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

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Ayr Wellness on 13 of the 15 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 Ayr Wellness

Ayr Wellness Inc. operates as a vertically-integrated multi-state cannabis operator that cultivates, manufactures, and retails cannabis products and branded cannabis packaged goods. It owns and operates a chain of cannabis retail stores under AYR, Liberty Health Sciences, and The Dispensary brand names. The company was formerly known as Ayr Strategies Inc. and changed its name to Ayr Wellness Inc. in February 2021. Ayr Wellness Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.