Financial Comparison: Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB)

Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Medtronic and Aurora Cannabis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medtronic	13.20%	14.51%	7.76%
Aurora Cannabis	-33.57%	0.10%	0.07%

Volatility & Risk

Medtronic has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aurora Cannabis has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.1% of Medtronic shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.6% of Aurora Cannabis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Medtronic shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Aurora Cannabis shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Medtronic and Aurora Cannabis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medtronic	0	11	17	0	2.61
Aurora Cannabis	1	1	1	0	2.00

Medtronic presently has a consensus target price of $99.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.32%. Given Medtronic’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Medtronic is more favorable than Aurora Cannabis.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Medtronic and Aurora Cannabis”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medtronic	$36.36 billion	2.85	$4.80 billion	$3.73	21.70
Aurora Cannabis	$247.82 million	0.70	-$88.13 million	($1.56)	-1.81

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

Summary

Medtronic beats Aurora Cannabis on 14 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medtronic

Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. It also provides aortic valves, surgical valve replacement and repair products, endovascular stent grafts and accessories, and transcatheter pulmonary valves; and percutaneous coronary intervention products, percutaneous angioplasty balloons, and products. The company's Medical Surgical Portfolio segment offers surgical stapling devices, vessel sealing instruments, wound closure, electrosurgery products, surgical artificial intelligence and robotic-assisted surgery products, hernia mechanical devices, mesh implants, gynecology and lung products, and various therapies to treat diseases, as well as products in the fields of minimally invasive gastrointestinal and hepatologic diagnostics and therapies, patient monitoring, airway management and ventilation therapies, and renal disease. Its Neuroscience Portfolio segment offers products for spinal surgeons; neurosurgeons; neurologists; pain management specialists; anesthesiologists; orthopedic surgeons; urologists; urogynecologists; interventional radiologists; ear, nose, and throat specialists; and systems that incorporate energy surgical instruments. It also provides image-guided surgery and intra-operative imaging systems and robotic guidance systems used in robot assisted spine procedures; and therapies for vasculature in and around the brain. The company's Diabetes Operating Unit segment offers insulin pumps and consumables, continuous glucose monitoring systems, smart insulin pen systems, and consumables and supplies. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Aurora Cannabis

Aurora Cannabis Inc., together with its subsidiaries, produces, distributes, and sells cannabis and cannabis-derivative products in Canada and internationally. It operates through three segments: Canadian Cannabis, European Cannabis, and Plant Propagation. The company produces, distributes, and sells medical and consumer cannabis products in Canada. It is also involved in the distribution of wholesale medical cannabis in the European Union (EU); distribution of wholesale medical cannabis in various international markets, including Australia, the Caribbean, South America, and Israel; supply of propagated vegetables and ornamental plants in North America; and distribution and sale of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products. In addition, the company cultivates and sells dried cannabis, cannabis oils, capsules, edible cannabis, cannabis extracts, and soft gels, which are ingested in various ways, including smoking, vaporizing, and consumption in the form of oil, capsules, edibles, and extracts; and provides dried flowers, vapes, dried milled strains, strain-specific extracts, strain specific cannabis oils, and concentrates. Further, it offers recreational cannabis products, such as flowers, vapes, ingestibles, concentrates, extracts, and CBD products; and patient counseling and outreach services. The company's adult-use brand portfolio includes Aurora Drift, San Rafael '71, Daily Special, Whistler, Being, and Greybeard, as well as CBD brands, Reliva and KG7; and medical cannabis brands include MedReleaf, CanniMed, Aurora, Whistler Medical Marijuana Co, Pedanios, Bidiol, and CraftPlant. Aurora Cannabis Inc. is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.