Head-To-Head Analysis: Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) and Amplifon (OTCMKTS:AMFPF)

Icon (NASDAQ:ICLR) and Amplifon (OTCMKTS:AMFPF) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Icon has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amplifon has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Icon and Amplifon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Icon	7.40%	10.58%	6.01%
Amplifon	4.74%	14.28%	3.89%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Icon and Amplifon, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Icon	3	5	7	0	2.27
Amplifon	0	2	2	0	2.50

Icon currently has a consensus target price of $149.38, suggesting a potential upside of 20.77%. Given Icon’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Icon is more favorable than Amplifon.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.6% of Icon shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.0% of Icon shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Icon and Amplifon”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Icon	$8.28 billion	1.21	$791.47 million	$7.39	16.74
Amplifon	$2.61 billion	1.01	$157.31 million	$0.56	21.29

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

Summary

Icon beats Amplifon on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Icon

ICON Public Limited Company, a clinical research organization, provides outsourced development and commercialization services in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. The company specializes in the strategic development, management, and analysis of programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. It also offers clinical development services, including all phases of development, peri and post approval, data solutions, and site and patient access services; clinical trial management, consulting, and contract staffing services; and commercial services comprising clinical development strategy, planning and trial design, full study execution, and post-market commercialization. In addition, the company provides laboratory services, including bionanalytical, biomarker, vaccine, good manufacturing practice, and central laboratory services, as well as full-service and functional service partnerships to customers. Further, it offers adaptive trials, cardiac safety solutions, clinical and scientific operations, consulting and advisory, commercial positioning, decentralized and hybrid clinical trials, early clinical, laboratories, language services, medical imaging, real world intelligence, site and patient, and strategic solutions. The company serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries, as well as government and public health organizations. ICON Public Limited Company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Amplifon

Amplifon S.p.A. engages in the distribution of hearing solutions and the fitting of customized products that help people rediscover various emotions of sound in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers Ampli-easy, Ampli-connect, Ampli-energy, and Ampli-mini hearing devices. It also operates Ampli-care, a platform to deliver audiological care experience; and Amplifon App to manage the device functions in real-time directly from smartphone. Amplifon S.p.A. was founded in 1950 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy. Amplifon S.p.A.