Financial Review: Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) versus BioHarvest Sciences (NASDAQ:BHST)

Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) and BioHarvest Sciences (NASDAQ:BHST) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Estee Lauder Companies has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioHarvest Sciences has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.1% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.1% of Estee Lauder Companies shares are owned by company 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.

Profitability

This table compares Estee Lauder Companies and BioHarvest Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Estee Lauder Companies	1.21%	23.52%	4.72%
BioHarvest Sciences	-31.21%	-58.30%	-25.60%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Estee Lauder Companies and BioHarvest Sciences”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Estee Lauder Companies	$15.05 billion	2.52	$182.00 million	$0.49	214.10
BioHarvest Sciences	$34.51 million	1.14	-$11.14 million	($0.52)	-3.86

Estee Lauder Companies has higher revenue and earnings than BioHarvest Sciences. BioHarvest Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Estee Lauder Companies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Estee Lauder Companies and BioHarvest Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Estee Lauder Companies	2	12	8	1	2.35
BioHarvest Sciences	1	0	2	0	2.33

Estee Lauder Companies presently has a consensus price target of $104.67, suggesting a potential downside of 0.23%. BioHarvest Sciences has a consensus price target of $6.50, suggesting a potential upside of 224.19%. Given BioHarvest Sciences’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BioHarvest Sciences is more favorable than Estee Lauder Companies.

Summary

Estee Lauder Companies beats BioHarvest Sciences on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Estee Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools. The company also provides fragrance products in various forms comprising eau de parfum sprays and colognes, as well as lotions, powders, creams, candles, and soaps; and hair care products, including shampoos, conditioners, styling products, treatment, finishing sprays, and hair color products, as well as sells ancillary products and services. It offers its products under the Estée Lauder, Clinique, Origins, M·A·C, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, La Mer, Aveda, Jo Malone London, TOM FORD, Too Faced, Dr.Jart+, and The Ordinary brands. The company sells its products through department stores, specialty-multi retailers, upscale perfumeries and pharmacies, and salons and spas; freestanding stores; its own and authorized retailer websites; third-party online malls; stores in airports; and duty-free locations. The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About BioHarvest Sciences

BioHarvest Sciences Inc. is a biotech firm. It focused on leveraging its botanical synthesis technology to develop science-based and clinically proven therapeutic solutions, within business verticals nutraceutical health and wellness products such as dietary supplements and development of plant cell-based Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients which focus on specific medical indications. BioHarvest Sciences Inc. is based in Vancouver, Canada.