Critical Contrast: Integer (NYSE:ITGR) & Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) and Integer (NYSE:ITGR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.2% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Integer shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Integer shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Thermo Fisher Scientific has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Integer has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Thermo Fisher Scientific and Integer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Thermo Fisher Scientific	15.15%	16.86%	8.15%
Integer	7.64%	12.83%	6.51%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Thermo Fisher Scientific and Integer”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Thermo Fisher Scientific	$44.56 billion	4.46	$6.70 billion	$18.19	29.41
Integer	$1.86 billion	1.71	$102.81 million	$4.01	23.25

Thermo Fisher Scientific has higher revenue and earnings than Integer. Integer is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Thermo Fisher Scientific, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Thermo Fisher Scientific and Integer, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Thermo Fisher Scientific	0	6	17	2	2.84
Integer	1	6	4	0	2.27

Thermo Fisher Scientific presently has a consensus target price of $602.14, suggesting a potential upside of 12.55%. Integer has a consensus target price of $99.29, suggesting a potential upside of 6.51%. Given Thermo Fisher Scientific’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Thermo Fisher Scientific is more favorable than Integer.

Summary

Thermo Fisher Scientific beats Integer on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets. Its Analytical Instruments segment provides instruments, consumables, software, and services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government, environmental, and other research and industrial markets, as well as clinical laboratories. The company's Specialty Diagnostics segment offers liquid, ready-to-use, and lyophilized immunodiagnostic reagent kits, as well as calibrators, controls, protein detection assays, and instruments; immunodiagnostics develops, manufactures and markets complete bloodtest systems to support the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy, asthma and autoimmune diseases; dehydrated and prepared culture media, collection and transport systems, instrumentation, and consumables; human leukocyte antigen typing and testing for organ transplant market; and healthcare products. Its Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment provides laboratory products, research and safety market channel, and pharma services and clinical research. It offers products and services through a direct sales force, customer-service professionals, electronic commerce, and third-party distributors under Thermo Scientific; Applied Biosystems; Invitrogen; Fisher Scientific; Unity Lab Services; and Patheon and PPD. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Integer

Integer Holdings Corporation operates as a medical device outsource manufacturer in the United States, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Medical and Non-Medical. The company offers products for interventional cardiology, structural heart, heart failure, peripheral vascular, neurovascular, interventional oncology, electrophysiology, vascular access, infusion therapy, hemodialysis, non-vascular, urology, and gastroenterology procedures. It also provides cardiac rhythm management products, including implantable pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, insertable cardiac monitors, implantable cardiac pacing and defibrillation leads, and heart failure therapies; neuromodulation products, such as implantable spinal cord stimulators; and non-rechargeable batteries, feedthroughs, device enclosures, machined components, and lead components and sub-assemblies. In addition, the company offers rechargeable batteries and chargers; and arthroscopic, laparoscopic, and general surgery devices and components, such as harmonic scalpels, shaver blades, burr shavers, radio frequency probes, biopsy probes, trocars, electrocautery components, wound dressings, GERD treatment components, and phacoemulsification needles. Further, it provides orthopedic products that include instruments used in hip, knee, and spine surgeries, as well as reamers and chisels. Additionally, the company offers customized battery power and power management systems, and battery solutions for the energy, military, and environmental markets. Furthermore, the company provides medical technologies. It serves multi-national original equipment manufacturers and their affiliated subsidiaries in the cardiac rhythm management, neuromodulation, orthopedics, vascular, and advanced surgical and portable medical markets. Integer Holdings Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas.