Reviewing 908 Devices (NASDAQ:MASS) & Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB)

Mesa Laboratories (NASDAQ:MLAB) and 908 Devices (NASDAQ:MASS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.6% of Mesa Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of 908 Devices shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of Mesa Laboratories shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.2% of 908 Devices shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Mesa Laboratories and 908 Devices’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesa Laboratories	2.69%	20.96%	8.78%
908 Devices	-62.40%	-14.03%	-10.40%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mesa Laboratories and 908 Devices”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesa Laboratories	$249.13 million	2.34	$6.71 million	$1.20	87.95
908 Devices	$56.20 million	5.85	$19.49 million	($1.00)	-8.69

908 Devices has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Mesa Laboratories. 908 Devices is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mesa Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Mesa Laboratories has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 908 Devices has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Mesa Laboratories and 908 Devices, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesa Laboratories	1	2	0	0	1.67
908 Devices	1	0	1	0	2.00

Mesa Laboratories currently has a consensus target price of $94.00, indicating a potential downside of 10.93%. 908 Devices has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 38.09%. Given 908 Devices’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe 908 Devices is more favorable than Mesa Laboratories.

Summary

Mesa Laboratories beats 908 Devices on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mesa Laboratories

Mesa Laboratories, Inc. develops, designs, manufactures, sells, and services life sciences tools and quality control products and services in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The Sterilization and Disinfection Control segment offers biological, chemical, and cleaning indicators, used to assess the effectiveness of sterilization decontamination, disinfection, and cleaning processes in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and healthcare industries. This segment also provides testing and laboratory services to the dental and pharmaceutical industries. The Clinical Genomics segment offers MassARRAY, a genetic analysis tool system, and related consumables, including chips, panels, and chemical reagent solutions used by clinical labs to analyze DNA samples for inherited genetic disease testing, pharmacogenetics, oncology testing, infectious disease testing, doping and toxicology testing, and other differentiated applications for use in research. The Biopharmaceutical Development segment provides automated systems, such as Gyrolab xPand and Gyrolab xPlore hardware and software, Gyrolab Bioaffy consumable microfluidic disks, Gyrolab kits and Rexxip buffers for protein analysis; PurePep Chorus and Symphony instruments for peptide synthesis; and PurePep EasyClean products for purifying peptides. The Calibration Solutions segment offers quality control products to measure and calibrate critical parameters in applications, such as environmental and process monitoring, dialysis, gas flow, air quality, and torque testing in medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing, laboratory, and hospital environments. This segment’s products include continuous monitoring systems, dialysate meters and consumables, data loggers, gas flow calibration and air sampling equipment, and torque testing systems, offered under DialyGuard, ViewPoint, DataTrace, DryCal, and BGI brands. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.

About 908 Devices

908 Devices Inc., a commercial-stage technology company, provides various purpose-built handheld and desktop mass spectrometry devices to interrogate unknown and invisible materials in life sciences research, bioprocessing, pharma/biopharma, forensics, and adjacent markets. The company's products include MX908, a handheld, battery-powered, and Mass Spec device that is designed for rapid analysis of solid, liquid, vapor, and aerosol materials of unknown identity; Rebel, a small desktop analyzer that provides real-time information on the extracellular environment in bioprocesses; and Maverick, an optical in-line analyzer that offers real-time monitoring and control of multiple bioprocess parameters, including glucose, lactate, and total biomass in mammalian cell cultures, as well as provides process fingerprint data to support large-scale efforts in predictive bioprocess modeling. Its products also comprise Maven and Trace C2, an online device for bioprocess monitoring and control; and ZipChip solution, a plug-and-play, high-resolution separation platform that optimizes Mass Spec sample analysis. The company operates in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and rest of the Americas. 908 Devices Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.