Reviewing STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) and Avitar (OTCMKTS:AVTI)

Avitar (OTCMKTS:AVTI) and STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Avitar and STAAR Surgical, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avitar	0	0	0	0	0.00
STAAR Surgical	2	6	3	0	2.09

STAAR Surgical has a consensus target price of $27.81, indicating a potential downside of 4.03%. Given Avitar’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Avitar is more favorable than STAAR Surgical.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.7% of STAAR Surgical shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Avitar shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 39.9% of STAAR Surgical shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Avitar and STAAR Surgical”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avitar	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
STAAR Surgical	$239.44 million	6.03	-$80.45 million	($0.43)	-67.40

Avitar has higher earnings, but lower revenue than STAAR Surgical.

Profitability

This table compares Avitar and STAAR Surgical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avitar	N/A	N/A	N/A
STAAR Surgical	-7.24%	3.31%	2.55%

Summary

STAAR Surgical beats Avitar on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avitar

Avitar, Inc. is a holding company which through its subsidiaries designs, develops, manufactures, and markets diagnostic test products and proprietary hydrophilic polyurethane foam disposables for medical, diagnostics, dental, and consumer applications in the United States. It offers ORALscreen 4 and ORALscreen DRUGOMETER, the oral fluid-based onsite assay systems, for detecting drugs of abuse, such as opiates, including heroin, morphine, codeine, and synthetic opiates comprising oxycocone-oxycontin, percoset, and hydrocodone-vicodin; cocaine such as crack; marijuana; and methamphetamines, including meth and ecstasy. The company also provides foam disposable products including medical-grade hydrophilic polyurethane foam disposables such as wound dressings comprising Hydrasorb, a wound dressing product for exudating wounds; and various custom foam products comprising a sinus dressing and a device used by astronauts for relieving ear pressure while in a pressurized space suit. In addition, it develops specialty wound dressings for the cardiac catheter lab market, as well as the Illizarov Dressing used for dressing external bone fixators in orthopedic procedures. The company markets its products and services to employers, diagnostic test distributors, medical supply companies, governmental agencies, schools, and corporations through direct sales force and strategic partners, as well as through a network of distributors. Avitar, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Canton, Massachusetts with Additional office in Calgary, Canada.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists. The company sells its products directly through its sales representatives in the United States, Japan, Germany, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, as well as through own representatives and independent distributors in China, Korea, India, France, Benelux, Italy, and internationally. STAAR Surgical Company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, California.