Financial Analysis: Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) & Avantor (NYSE:AVTR)

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) and Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Azenta	-20.63%	1.18%	0.97%
Avantor	-8.81%	9.92%	4.75%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Azenta and Avantor, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Azenta	1	2	4	0	2.43
Avantor	1	15	2	0	2.06

Azenta currently has a consensus price target of $41.20, suggesting a potential upside of 28.59%. Avantor has a consensus price target of $12.47, suggesting a potential downside of 17.69%. Given Azenta’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Azenta is more favorable than Avantor.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Azenta and Avantor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Azenta	$593.82 million	2.36	-$55.76 million	($2.76)	-11.61
Avantor	$6.55 billion	1.56	-$530.20 million	($0.84)	-18.04

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

Volatility & Risk

Azenta has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avantor has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.1% of Azenta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of Avantor shares are held by institutional investors. 10.9% of Azenta shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Avantor shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Azenta beats Avantor on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc. provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services. The Life Sciences Products segment offers automated cold storage solutions, consumables and instruments, controlled rate thawing devices, and temperature-controlled storage and transportation solutions. This segment also provides sample management solutions, such as consumable vials and tubes, polymerase chain reaction, plates, instruments for supporting workflows, and informatics. The Life Sciences Services segment provides genomic services, that includes gene sequencing and gene synthesis services; and sample repository solutions, such as on-site and off-site sample storage, cold chain logistics, sample transport and collection relocation, bio-processing solutions, disaster recovery and business continuity, and biospecimen procurement services, as well as project management and consulting services for genomic analysis and the management and care of biological samples used in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, clinical, and academic research, and development sectors. It serves a range of life science customers, including pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, biorepositories, and research institutes. The company was formerly known as Brooks Automation, Inc. and changed its name to Azenta, Inc. in December 2021. Azenta, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Burlington, 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.