Comparing Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) and So-Young International (NASDAQ:SY)

So-Young International (NASDAQ:SY) and Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for So-Young International and Avantor, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
So-Young International	1	0	1	0	2.00
Avantor	0	11	4	0	2.27

So-Young International presently has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 77.99%. Avantor has a consensus price target of $14.42, indicating a potential upside of 29.19%. Given So-Young International’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe So-Young International is more favorable than Avantor.

Volatility and Risk

So-Young International has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avantor has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.3% of So-Young International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of Avantor shares are held by institutional investors. 16.7% of So-Young International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Avantor shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares So-Young International and Avantor”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
So-Young International	$200.94 million	1.55	-$80.76 million	($0.99)	-3.12
Avantor	$6.78 billion	1.12	$711.50 million	($0.13)	-85.88

Avantor has higher revenue and earnings than So-Young International. Avantor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than So-Young International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares So-Young International and Avantor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
So-Young International	-51.26%	-10.07%	-7.08%
Avantor	-1.25%	10.91%	5.34%

Summary

Avantor beats So-Young International on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About So-Young International

So-Young International Inc. operates an online platform for consumption healthcare services in the People's Republic of China. The company offers So-Young Mobile App that offers users medical aesthetic knowledge and experience to reach an informed medical aesthetic treatment decision and make reservations for treatment with medical professionals and medical aesthetic institutions; So-Young Beauty which provides similar interfaces and functions as the mobile app, as well as serves as additional access points to the platform; and medical aesthetic community content through its website soyoung.com. It provides content in various media formats on its online platform generated by users, including professional generated, content from in-house editorial team that shares opinions on specific new medical procedures and trends; user generated content comprising Beauty Diaries that provides details about medical institution, doctor, price, and other information on the treatment; professional user generated, contents from the medical aesthetic influencers; and doctor generated, content from doctors to generate knowledge. In addition, the company offers consumption healthcare services, including dermatology, dentistry and orthodontics, physical examinations, gynecology, and postnatal care; reservation services; and software as a service. Further, it engages in research and development, production, sales, and agency of laser and other optoelectronic medical beauty equipment; manufacture and sells light therapy device, surgical laser device and other equipment; internet information and technology advisory; online medical treatment and consultation; management consulting; internet culture; micro finance services, as well as sells cosmetics products. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Beijing, China.

About Avantor

Avantor, Inc. engages in the provision of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education and government, advanced technologies, and applied materials industries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers materials and consumables, such as purity chemicals and reagents, lab products and supplies, formulated silicone materials, customized excipients, customized single-use assemblies, process chromatography resins and columns, analytical sample prep kits, education and microbiology products, clinical trial kits, peristaltic pumps, and fluid handling tips. It also provides equipment and instrumentation products, including filtration systems, virus inactivation systems, incubators, analytical instruments, evaporators, ultra-low-temperature freezers, biological safety cabinets, and critical environment supplies. In addition, the company offers services and specialty procurements comprising onsite lab and production, clinical, equipment, procurement and sourcing, and biopharmaceutical material scale-up and development services. Further, it provides scientific research support services, such as DNA extraction, bioreactor servicing, clinical and biorepository, and compound management services. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.