Comparing Positron (OTCMKTS:POSC) and OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK)

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) and Positron (OTCMKTS:POSC) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

64.6% of OPKO Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 49.7% of OPKO Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of Positron shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares OPKO Health and Positron’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OPKO Health	-28.10%	-13.67%	-8.70%
Positron	N/A	-278.32%	-88.36%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares OPKO Health and Positron”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OPKO Health	$713.10 million	1.44	-$53.22 million	($0.25)	-5.36
Positron	$590,000.00	93.17	-$2.39 million	($0.12)	-14.58

Positron has lower revenue, but higher earnings than OPKO Health. Positron is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OPKO Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

OPKO Health has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Positron has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for OPKO Health and Positron, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OPKO Health	1	3	2	1	2.43
Positron	0	0	0	0	0.00

OPKO Health presently has a consensus target price of $2.28, suggesting a potential upside of 70.40%. Given OPKO Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe OPKO Health is more favorable than Positron.

Summary

OPKO Health beats Positron on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OPKO Health

OPKO Health, Inc., a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers, and governmental units; and 4Kscore prostate cancer test. Its Pharmaceutical segment offers Rayaldee to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism in adults with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease, and vitamin D insufficiency. This segment also develops multi-specific immune therapies focused on oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, and immunology; OPK88004, an orally administered selective androgen receptor modulator; OPK88003, a once-weekly administered peptide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and related obesity; Somatrogon (hGH-CTP), a once-weekly human growth hormone injection; and Factor VIIa-CTP, a novel long-acting coagulation factor being developed to treat hemophilia. In addition, it develops and commercializes longer-acting proprietary versions of already approved therapeutic proteins; develops and produces specialty APIs; develops, manufactures, markets, and sells pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, veterinary, and ophthalmic products; commercializes food supplements and over the counter products; manufactures and sells products primarily in the generics market; and markets, distributes, and sells pharmaceutical products in a range of indications, including cardiovascular products, vaccines, antibiotics, gastro-intestinal products, hormones, and others. The company also operates pharmaceutical platforms in Ireland, Chile, Spain, and Mexico. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About Positron

Positron Corporation, a nuclear medicine healthcare company, specializes in the business of cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) imaging in the United States. It offers attrius PET scanner, clinical and technical services, and financing solutions enables healthcare providers to accurately diagnose cardiac disease, improve patient outcomes, and practice cost effective medicines. Positron Corporation was incorporated in 1983 and is based in Niagara Falls, New York.