Analyzing BG Medicine (OTCMKTS:BGMD) and Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

BG Medicine (OTCMKTS:BGMD) and Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for BG Medicine and Avantor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BG Medicine	0	0	0	0	0.00
Avantor	1	11	4	0	2.19

Avantor has a consensus price target of $13.97, suggesting a potential upside of 22.88%. Given Avantor’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Avantor is more favorable than BG Medicine.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BG Medicine and Avantor”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BG Medicine	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Avantor	$6.78 billion	1.14	$711.50 million	($0.13)	-87.43

Avantor has higher revenue and earnings than BG Medicine.

Profitability

This table compares BG Medicine and Avantor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BG Medicine	N/A	N/A	N/A
Avantor	-1.25%	10.91%	5.34%

Risk & Volatility

BG Medicine has a beta of 2.23, indicating that its stock price is 123% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avantor has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.1% of Avantor shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.5% of BG Medicine shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Avantor shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Avantor beats BG Medicine on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BG Medicine

BG Medicine, Inc. engages in the development and commercialization of diagnostic products used to guide the patients suffering from heart failure and related disorders in the United States. The company offers BGM Galectin-3 Test, an in vitro diagnostic device that measures galectin-3 in serum or plasma by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay on a microtiter plate platform; and CardioSCORE Test, a multi-analyte biomarker-based blood test used for the assessment of near-term risk of atherothrombotic cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and ischemic stroke. It has license, development, and commercialization agreements with Abbott Laboratories, bioMérieux SA, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc., and Alere Inc. for the automated instrument versions of galectin-3 test; and a strategic collaboration with Abbott Laboratories to develop and commercialize galectin-3 assay kits, and related control kits and calibrators. The company was formerly known as Beyond Genomics, Inc. and changed its name to BG Medicine, Inc. in October 2004. BG Medicine, Inc. was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

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.