Comparing IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) and Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO)

Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) and IQVIA (NYSE:IQV) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.9% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.6% of IQVIA shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of IQVIA shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Harvard Bioscience and IQVIA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Harvard Bioscience	-11.44%	-25.78%	-4.37%
IQVIA	8.10%	30.25%	6.54%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Harvard Bioscience and IQVIA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Harvard Bioscience	$86.55 million	0.32	-$56.70 million	($2.17)	-2.81
IQVIA	$16.31 billion	2.37	$1.36 billion	$8.06	29.17

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

Risk and Volatility

Harvard Bioscience has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, IQVIA has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Harvard Bioscience and IQVIA, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Harvard Bioscience	1	1	1	0	2.00
IQVIA	0	3	13	1	2.88

Harvard Bioscience currently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential downside of 1.64%. IQVIA has a consensus price target of $241.88, suggesting a potential upside of 2.89%. Given IQVIA’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe IQVIA is more favorable than Harvard Bioscience.

Summary

IQVIA beats Harvard Bioscience on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Harvard Bioscience

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells technologies, products, and services for life science applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers cellular and molecular technology products, such as syringe and peristaltic infusion pump products; electroporation and electrofusion instruments, amino acid analyzers, spectrophotometers, and other equipment for molecular level testing and research; and precision scientific measuring instrumentation and equipment, including data acquisition systems for cellular analysis, complete micro electrode array solutions for in vivo recordings, and in vitro systems for extracellular recordings. It also provides preclinical products that includes platform to assess physiological data from organisms for research, drug discovery, and drug development services comprising implantable and externally worn telemetry systems for use in research to collect cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory, and metabolic data; behavioral products; isolated organ and surgical products, instruments and accessories for tissue, and organ-based lab research, including surgical products, infusion systems, and behavior research systems; turn-key respiratory system solutions, including plethysmograph chambers, data acquisition hardware, physiological signal analysis software, and final report generation; inhalation and exposure systems; and GLP-capable data acquisition and analysis systems. The company markets its products through sales organizations, websites, and distributors to research scientists in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, hospitals, and government laboratories; and contract research organizations and academic labs. It primarily sells its products under Harvard Apparatus, DSI, Buxco, Biochrom, BTX, Heka, Hugo Sachs, Multichannel Systems MCS GmbH, and Panlab brands. Harvard Bioscience, Inc. was founded in 1901 and is based in Holliston, Massachusetts.

About IQVIA

IQVIA Holdings Inc. engages in the provision of advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technology & Analytics Solutions, Research & Development Solutions, and Contract Sales & Medical Solutions. The Technology & Analytics Solutions segment offers a range of cloud-based applications and related implementation services; real world solutions that enable life sciences and provider customers to generate and disseminate evidence, which informs health care decision making and improves patients’ outcomes; and strategic and implementation consulting services, such as advanced analytics and commercial processes outsourcing services. This segment also provides country level performance metrics related to sales of pharmaceutical products, prescribing trends, medical treatment, and promotional activity across various channels, including retail, hospital, and mail order; and measurement of sales or prescribing activity at the regional, zip code, and individual prescriber level. The Research & Development Solutions segment offers project management and clinical monitoring; clinical trial support; strategic planning and design services; and patient and site centric solutions, as well as central laboratory, genomic, bioanalytical, ADME, discovery, and vaccine and biomarker laboratory services. The Contract Sales & Medical Solutions segment provides health care provider and patient engagement services, and scientific strategy and medical affairs services. It serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, device and diagnostic, and consumer health companies. The company has a collaboration with argenx SE. The company was formerly known as Quintiles IMS Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to IQVIA Holdings Inc. in November 2017. The company is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.