Contrasting Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) & Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO)

Bio-Rad Laboratories (NYSE:BIO) and Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Bio-Rad Laboratories has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Qiagen has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Qiagen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bio-Rad Laboratories	8.59%	3.54%	2.48%
Qiagen	19.49%	14.24%	8.23%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Bio-Rad Laboratories and Qiagen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bio-Rad Laboratories	$2.58 billion	3.69	$759.90 million	$8.25	43.14
Qiagen	$2.10 billion	4.18	$424.88 million	$1.95	21.87

Bio-Rad Laboratories has higher revenue and earnings than Qiagen. Qiagen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bio-Rad Laboratories, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Bio-Rad Laboratories and Qiagen, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bio-Rad Laboratories	2	2	1	0	1.80
Qiagen	1	8	4	1	2.36

Bio-Rad Laboratories presently has a consensus price target of $343.33, indicating a potential downside of 3.53%. Qiagen has a consensus price target of $43.93, indicating a potential upside of 2.98%. Given Qiagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Qiagen is more favorable than Bio-Rad Laboratories.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

65.2% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.0% of Qiagen shares are held by institutional investors. 30.3% of Bio-Rad Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of Qiagen shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Qiagen beats Bio-Rad Laboratories on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Bio-Rad Laboratories

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. manufactures and distributes life science research and clinical diagnostic products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through two segments, Life Science and Clinical Diagnostics. The company develops, manufactures, and markets instruments, systems, reagents, and consumables to separate, purify, characterize, and quantitate biological materials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids for proteomics, genomics, biopharmaceutical production, cellular biology, and food safety markets. It also designs, manufactures, markets, and supports test systems, informatics systems, test kits, and specialized quality controls for hospitals, diagnostic reference, transfusion, and physician office laboratories. The company offers its products through its direct sales force, as well as through distributors, agents, brokers, and resellers. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Hercules, California.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN NV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. The company sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood, tissue, and other materials. The firm assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Its bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. The company was founded by Detlev H. Riesner and Metin Colpan on April 29, 1996, and is headquartered in Venlo, the Netherlands.