Merit Medical Systems (MMSI) Competitors

Merit Medical Systems (NASDAQ:MMSI) and Cantel Medical (NYSE:CMD) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MMSI or CMD?

99.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.1% of Cantel Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of Cantel Medical shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk and volatility, MMSI or CMD?

Merit Medical Systems has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cantel Medical has a beta of 1.55, meaning that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer MMSI or CMD?

Merit Medical Systems presently has a consensus price target of $92.78, suggesting a potential upside of 14.33%. Given Merit Medical Systems' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Merit Medical Systems is more favorable than Cantel Medical.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merit Medical Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.89
Cantel Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	N/A

Is MMSI or CMD more profitable?

Merit Medical Systems has a net margin of 7.94% compared to Cantel Medical's net margin of 4.72%. Merit Medical Systems' return on equity of 15.02% beat Cantel Medical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merit Medical Systems	7.94%	15.02%	8.83%
Cantel Medical	4.72%	12.13%	4.45%

Does the media favor MMSI or CMD?

In the previous week, Merit Medical Systems had 7 more articles in the media than Cantel Medical. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Merit Medical Systems and 0 mentions for Cantel Medical. Merit Medical Systems' average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Cantel Medical's score of 0.00 indicating that Merit Medical Systems is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Merit Medical Systems	Positive
Cantel Medical	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MMSI or CMD?

Merit Medical Systems received 201 more outperform votes than Cantel Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.90% of users gave Merit Medical Systems an outperform vote while only 65.53% of users gave Cantel Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Merit Medical Systems	Outperform Votes 412 68.90%	Underperform Votes 186 31.10%
Cantel Medical	Outperform Votes 211 65.53%	Underperform Votes 111 34.47%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, MMSI or CMD?

Merit Medical Systems has higher revenue and earnings than Cantel Medical. Merit Medical Systems is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cantel Medical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Merit Medical Systems	$1.26B	3.75	$94.41M	$1.74	46.64
Cantel Medical	$1.02B	3.52	$13.71M	$1.65	48.71

Summary

Merit Medical Systems beats Cantel Medical on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.