Financial Comparison: Escalon Medical (OTCMKTS:ESMC) vs. Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC)

Escalon Medical (OTCMKTS:ESMC) and Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Escalon Medical has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Escalon Medical and Henry Schein, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Escalon Medical	0	0	0	0	0.00
Henry Schein	1	7	6	0	2.36

Henry Schein has a consensus target price of $86.83, indicating a potential upside of 13.39%. Given Henry Schein’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Henry Schein is more favorable than Escalon Medical.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Escalon Medical and Henry Schein”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Escalon Medical	$12.05 million	0.12	$110,000.00	$0.11	1.82
Henry Schein	$13.18 billion	0.66	$398.00 million	$3.31	23.14

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

Profitability

This table compares Escalon Medical and Henry Schein’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Escalon Medical	16.17%	-21.42%	-6.72%
Henry Schein	2.95%	15.44%	5.53%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.6% of Henry Schein shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Escalon Medical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Henry Schein shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Henry Schein beats Escalon Medical on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Escalon Medical

Escalon Medical Corp. engages in the development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of medical devices and pharmaceuticals in the area of ophthalmology in the United States and internationally. It offers A-Scan, which provides information about the internal structure of the eye; B-Scan, a diagnostic tool that supplies information to physicians where the media within the eye are cloudy or opaque; UBM, a high frequency/high resolution ultrasound device, which provides detailed information about the anterior segment of the eye; and Pachymeter that measures the thickness of cornea. The company also provides Ispan Intraocular Gases, such as C3F8 and SF6 that are used by vitreoretinal surgeons as a temporary tamponade in detached retina surgery; and AXIS Image management system for managing ophthalmic diagnostic images through the web browser from various devices. In addition, it markets disposable surgical packs used in vitreoretinal surgery, including packs that aid surgeons in the process of injecting and extracting silicone oil. Further, the company engages in the manufacturing and distribution of patented disposable universal gas kit, which delivers the gas from the canister to the patient. It sells its products to medical institutions through independent sales representatives, network of distributors, and internal sales employees. Escalon Medical Corp. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

About Henry Schein

Henry Schein, Inc. provides health care products and services to dental practitioners, laboratories, physician practices, and ambulatory surgery centers, government, institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care clinics worldwide. It operates through two segments, Health Care Distribution, and Technology and Value-Added Services. The Health Care Distribution segment offers dental products, including infection-control products, handpieces, preventatives, impression materials, composites, anesthetics, teeth, dental implants, gypsum, acrylics, articulators, abrasives, dental chairs, delivery units and lights, X-ray supplies and equipment, personal protective equipment, and high-tech and digital restoration equipment, as well as equipment repair services. This segment also provides medical products, such as branded and generic pharmaceuticals, vaccines, surgical products, diagnostic tests, infection-control products, X-ray products, equipment, and vitamins. The Technology and Value-Added Services segment offers software, technology, and other value-added services that include practice management software systems for dental and medical practitioners; and value-added practice solutions comprising practice consultancy, education, revenue cycle management and financial services, e-services, practice technology, and network and hardware services, as well as consulting, and continuing education services. Henry Schein, Inc. was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Melville, New York.