ERBA Diagnostics (OTCMKTS:ERBA) and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Critical Survey

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) and ERBA Diagnostics (OTCMKTS:ERBA) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Edwards Lifesciences and ERBA Diagnostics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edwards Lifesciences	0	9	15	3	2.78
ERBA Diagnostics	0	0	0	0	0.00

Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus price target of $96.14, suggesting a potential upside of 20.86%. Given Edwards Lifesciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Edwards Lifesciences is more favorable than ERBA Diagnostics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.5% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 88.1% of ERBA Diagnostics shares are owned by 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Edwards Lifesciences and ERBA Diagnostics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edwards Lifesciences	$6.07 billion	7.56	$1.07 billion	$1.83	43.47
ERBA Diagnostics	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Edwards Lifesciences has higher revenue and earnings than ERBA Diagnostics.

Profitability

This table compares Edwards Lifesciences and ERBA Diagnostics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edwards Lifesciences	17.69%	14.50%	11.21%
ERBA Diagnostics	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Edwards Lifesciences beats ERBA Diagnostics on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names. The company also provides surgical structural heart solutions, such as aortic surgical valve under the INSPIRIS name; INSPIRIS RESILLA aortic valve, which offers RESILIA tissue and VFit technology; KONECT RESILIA, a pre-assembled tissue valves conduit for complex combined procedures; and MITRIS RESILIA valve. In addition, it offers critical care solutions, including hemodynamic monitoring systems to measure a patient’s heart function and fluid status in surgical and intensive care settings under the FloTrac, Acumen IQ sensors, ClearSight, Acumen IQ cuffs, and ForeSight names; HemoSphere, a monitoring platform that displays physiological information; and Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index software that alerts clinicians in advance of a patient developing dangerously low blood pressure. The company distributes its products through a direct sales force and independent distributors. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Irvine, 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.