Reviewing BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) & Seer (NASDAQ:SEER)

BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) and Seer (NASDAQ:SEER) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Seer shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of Seer shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

BioLife Solutions has a beta of 1.82, suggesting that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seer has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BioLife Solutions and Seer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioLife Solutions	53.29%	2.70%	2.49%
Seer	-478.05%	-27.23%	-23.99%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for BioLife Solutions and Seer, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioLife Solutions	0	10	1	0	2.09
Seer	1	0	0	2	3.00

BioLife Solutions currently has a consensus target price of $31.38, indicating a potential downside of 18.74%. Seer has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 103.05%. Given Seer’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Seer is more favorable than BioLife Solutions.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BioLife Solutions and Seer”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioLife Solutions	$106.69 million	17.71	-$4.59 million	$1.16	33.28
Seer	$16.58 million	6.58	-$73.60 million	($1.22)	-1.61

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

Summary

BioLife Solutions beats Seer on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets bioproduction tools and services for the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company’s products are used in the basic and applied research, and commercial manufacturing of biologic-based therapies. It offers proprietary biopreservation media products, including HypoThermosol FRS and CryoStor Freeze Media that are formulated to mitigate preservation-induced, delayed-onset cell damage and death; bioproduction tools, such as human platelet lysates for cell expansion and CellSeal closed system vials that are used in CGT; and the ThawSTAR line that comprises of a family of automated thawing devices for frozen cell and gene therapies packaged in cryovials and cryobags. The company also provides cryogenic freezer technology for controlled rate freezing and cryogenic storage of biologic materials; ultra-low temperature mechanical freezers; evo shipping containers that are cloud-connected passive storage and transport containers for temperature-sensitive biologics and pharmaceuticals; liquid nitrogen laboratory freezers, cryogenic equipment, and accessories; and biological and pharmaceutical storage and transport services. It markets and sells its products directly, as well as through third party distributors. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.

About Seer

Seer, Inc., a life sciences company, engages in developing and commercializing products to decode the biology of the proteome. It develops Proteograph Product Suite, an integrated solution that includes proprietary engineered nanoparticles, consumables, automation instrumentation, and software to perform proteomic analysis to provide a solution that can be incorporated by nearly any lab for research use only. The company intends to sell its products for research use only, which cover academic institutions, life sciences, and research laboratories, as well as biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for non-diagnostic and non-clinical purposes. It operates in China, Australia, Eastern Europe, Israel, and Japan. The company was formerly known as Seer Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Seer, Inc. in July 2018. Seer, Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.