Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) vs. Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) Financial Contrast

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) and Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Mettler-Toledo International has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Thermo Fisher Scientific has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Thermo Fisher Scientific’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mettler-Toledo International	21.40%	-622.80%	24.97%
Thermo Fisher Scientific	15.15%	16.86%	8.15%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Mettler-Toledo International and Thermo Fisher Scientific, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mettler-Toledo International	0	7	6	0	2.46
Thermo Fisher Scientific	0	4	18	2	2.92

Mettler-Toledo International currently has a consensus price target of $1,408.55, suggesting a potential upside of 19.24%. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a consensus price target of $613.67, suggesting a potential upside of 27.21%. Given Thermo Fisher Scientific’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Thermo Fisher Scientific is more favorable than Mettler-Toledo International.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Thermo Fisher Scientific”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mettler-Toledo International	$4.03 billion	5.93	$869.19 million	$42.64	27.70
Thermo Fisher Scientific	$44.56 billion	4.02	$6.70 billion	$18.19	26.52

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.1% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.2% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Thermo Fisher Scientific shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mettler-Toledo International beats Thermo Fisher Scientific on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mettler-Toledo International

Mettler-Toledo International Inc. manufactures and supplies precision instruments and services in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It operates through five segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The company’s laboratory instruments include laboratory balances, liquid pipetting solutions, automated laboratory reactors, real-time analytics, titrators, pH meters, process analytics sensors and analyzer technologies, physical value analyzers, density and refractometry, thermal analysis systems, and other analytical instruments; and LabX, a laboratory software platform to manage and analyze data generated from its instruments. Its industrial instruments comprise industrial weighing instruments and related terminals, automatic dimensional measurement and data capture solutions, vehicle scale systems, industrial software, metal detection equipment, x-ray systems, check weighing equipment, camera-based imaging equipment, track-and-trace solutions, and product inspection systems. The company’s retail weighing solutions consist of weighing and software solutions, AI-driven image recognition solution, and automated packaging and labelling solutions for the meat backroom. It serves the life science industry, independent research organizations, and testing labs; food and beverage manufacturers; food retailers; chemical, specialty chemical, and cosmetics companies; food retailers; transportation and logistics, metals, and electronics industries; and the academic community through its direct sales force and indirect distribution channels. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.

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.