Financial Review: Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO) versus Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA)

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) and Alpha Teknova (NASDAQ:TKNO) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Azenta has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its stock price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alpha Teknova has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Azenta and Alpha Teknova, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Azenta	1	2	4	0	2.43
Alpha Teknova	1	1	4	0	2.50

Azenta currently has a consensus price target of $41.20, indicating a potential upside of 1.29%. Alpha Teknova has a consensus price target of $8.75, indicating a potential upside of 0.23%. Given Azenta’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Azenta is more favorable than Alpha Teknova.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Azenta and Alpha Teknova”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Azenta	$613.81 million	2.90	-$55.76 million	($2.76)	-14.74
Alpha Teknova	$45.95 million	10.20	-$17.26 million	($0.29)	-30.10

Alpha Teknova has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Azenta. Alpha Teknova is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Azenta, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Azenta and Alpha Teknova’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Azenta	-20.63%	1.18%	0.97%
Alpha Teknova	-34.76%	-24.41%	-16.07%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.1% of Azenta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.8% of Alpha Teknova shares are held by institutional investors. 10.9% of Azenta shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.2% of Alpha Teknova shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Azenta beats Alpha Teknova on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc. provides biological and chemical compound sample exploration and management solutions for the life sciences market in North America, Africa, China, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company operates in two reportable segments, Life Sciences Products and Life Sciences Services. The Life Sciences Products segment offers automated cold storage solutions, consumables and instruments, controlled rate thawing devices, and temperature-controlled storage and transportation solutions. This segment also provides sample management solutions, such as consumable vials and tubes, polymerase chain reaction, plates, instruments for supporting workflows, and informatics. The Life Sciences Services segment provides genomic services, that includes gene sequencing and gene synthesis services; and sample repository solutions, such as on-site and off-site sample storage, cold chain logistics, sample transport and collection relocation, bio-processing solutions, disaster recovery and business continuity, and biospecimen procurement services, as well as project management and consulting services for genomic analysis and the management and care of biological samples used in pharmaceutical, biotech, healthcare, clinical, and academic research, and development sectors. It serves a range of life science customers, including pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, biorepositories, and research institutes. The company was formerly known as Brooks Automation, Inc. and changed its name to Azenta, Inc. in December 2021. Azenta, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.

About Alpha Teknova

Alpha Teknova, Inc. produces critical reagents for the research, discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, vaccines, and molecular diagnostics in the United States and internationally. The company offers pre-poured media plates for cell growth and cloning; liquid cell culture media and supplements for cellular expansion; and molecular biology reagents for sample manipulation, resuspension, and purification. It provides lab essentials which provides chemical formulations for use in biological research and drug discovery; and clinical solutions, a custom product used in the development and production of protein therapies, gene therapies, mRNA vaccines, and diagnostic kits. The company serves its products to life sciences market, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract development and manufacturing organizations, in vitro diagnostic franchises, as well as academic and government research institutions. Alpha Teknova, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Hollister, California.