Head-To-Head Analysis: ERBA Diagnostics (OTCMKTS:ERBA) & Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG)

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) and ERBA Diagnostics (OTCMKTS:ERBA) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.6% of Intuitive Surgical shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Intuitive Surgical shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 88.1% of ERBA Diagnostics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Intuitive Surgical and ERBA Diagnostics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Intuitive Surgical	28.58%	15.08%	13.38%
ERBA Diagnostics	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Intuitive Surgical and ERBA Diagnostics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Intuitive Surgical	1	8	19	1	2.69
ERBA Diagnostics	0	0	0	0	0.00

Intuitive Surgical presently has a consensus target price of $602.32, indicating a potential upside of 10.21%. Given Intuitive Surgical’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Intuitive Surgical is more favorable than ERBA Diagnostics.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Intuitive Surgical and ERBA Diagnostics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Intuitive Surgical	$8.35 billion	23.46	$2.32 billion	$7.56	72.29
ERBA Diagnostics	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Intuitive Surgical has higher revenue and earnings than ERBA Diagnostics.

Summary

Intuitive Surgical beats ERBA Diagnostics on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets products that enable physicians and healthcare providers to enhance the quality of and access to minimally invasive care in the United States and internationally. The company offers the da Vinci Surgical System that enables complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach; and Ion endoluminal system, which extends its commercial offerings beyond surgery into diagnostic procedures enabling minimally invasive biopsies in the lung. It also provides a suite of stapling, energy, and core instrumentation for its multi-port da Vinci surgical systems; progressive learning pathways to support the use of its technology; infrastructure of service and support specialists, a complement of services to its customers, including installation, repair, maintenance, 24/7 technical support, and proactive system health monitoring; and integrated digital capabilities providing connected offerings, streamlining performance for hospitals with program-enhancing insights. The company sells its products through direct sales organizations, such as capital and clinical sales teams. It has a collaboration agreement with FluoGuide A/S for head & neck cancer. The company was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

About ERBA Diagnostics

ERBA Diagnostics, Inc., through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and markets diagnostic test kits or assays, and automated systems that are used to aid in the detection of disease markers primarily in the areas of autoimmune, infectious diseases, clinical chemistry, hematology, and diabetes testing. It manufactures scientific and laboratory instruments, such as Mago 4, Mago 4S, and Mago Plus systems, which perform tests in an automated mode; sells other diagnostic products manufactured by third parties in Italy; and develops, manufactures, and markets raw materials, such as antigens that are used in the production of diagnostic kits. The company also develops, manufactures, and markets autoimmune reagents and research products for use by research laboratories and commercial diagnostic manufacturers. In addition, the company provides instruments for blood cell counting and blood analysis; supplies reagents and other consumable materials; sells diabetic testing products, including the DS5 instrument, dispenser, and associated reagent kits, which measure long-term glucose control in diabetic patients; and offers equipment for use in the field of human and veterinary hematology. Further, it manufactures and sells liquid stable, diagnostics chemistry reagents used for in vitro diagnostics testing. The company markets its products through its sales force to hospitals, reference laboratories, clinical laboratories, and research laboratories, as well as to other commercial companies that manufacture diagnostic products in the United States; and through sales representatives and independent agents in Italy, as well as through independent distributors internationally. The company was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Miami Lakes, Florida. ERBA Diagnostics, Inc. is a subsidiary of ERBA Diagnostics Mannheim GmbH.