Analyzing Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB) and Its Competitors

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) is one of 109 public companies in the “Life Sciences Tools & Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Pacific Biosciences of California to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Biosciences of California	-82.49%	-5,752.12%	-19.52%
Pacific Biosciences of California Competitors	-540.73%	-166.48%	-13.59%

Volatility and Risk

Pacific Biosciences of California has a beta of 2.19, indicating that its share price is 119% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pacific Biosciences of California’s rivals have a beta of 1.14, indicating that their average share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Pacific Biosciences of California and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Biosciences of California	2	3	1	0	1.83
Pacific Biosciences of California Competitors	946	3159	5472	176	2.50

Pacific Biosciences of California currently has a consensus price target of $1.71, suggesting a potential downside of 27.13%. As a group, “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies have a potential downside of 1.93%. Given Pacific Biosciences of California’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Pacific Biosciences of California has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.9% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Pacific Biosciences of California shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Biosciences of California	$159.27 million	-$546.38 million	-5.47
Pacific Biosciences of California Competitors	$2.27 billion	$55.88 billion	-13.37

Pacific Biosciences of California’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Pacific Biosciences of California. Pacific Biosciences of California is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Pacific Biosciences of California rivals beat Pacific Biosciences of California on 10 of the 13 factors compared.

Pacific Biosciences of California Company Profile

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing solution to resolve genetically complex problems. The company provides sequencing systems; consumable products, including single molecule real-time (SMRT) technology; long-red sequencing; and various reagent kits designed for specific workflow, such as preparation kit to convert DNA into SMRTbell double-stranded DNA library formats, including molecular biology reagents, such as ligase, buffers, and exonucleases. It also offers binding kits, such as modified DNA polymerase used to bind SMRTbell libraries to the polymerase in preparation for sequencing; and sequencing kits comprise reagents required for on-instrument, real-time sequencing, including the phospholinked nucleotides. In addition, it provides revio system + sequel systems which conduct, monitor, and analyze single-molecule biochemical reactions in real time; SBB short-read sequencing; onso instrument conducts, monitors, and analyzes SBB biochemical reactions; and SBB consumable, including flow cells, clustering, and sequencing reagent kits. The company serves academic and governmental research institutions; commercial testing and service laboratories; genome centers; public health labs, hospitals and clinical research institutes, and contract research organizations; pharmaceutical companies; and agricultural companies. It markets its products through a sales force and distribution partners in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It has a development and commercialization agreement with Invitae Corporation; and a collaboration with Radboud University Medical to explore genetic causes of rare and genetic diseases. The company was formerly known as Nanofluidics, Inc. and changed its name to Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. in 2005. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.