BDX vs. ABT, ISRG, SYK, BSX, MDT, EW, DXCM, IDXX, RMD, and STE
Should you be buying Becton, Dickinson and Company stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Becton, Dickinson and Company include Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Stryker (SYK), Boston Scientific (BSX), Medtronic (MDT), Edwards Lifesciences (EW), DexCom (DXCM), IDEXX Laboratories (IDXX), ResMed (RMD), and STERIS (STE). These companies are all part of the "health care equipment" industry.
Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and community ranking.
75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Becton, Dickinson and Company shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Becton, Dickinson and Company shares are held 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.
In the previous week, Abbott Laboratories had 3 more articles in the media than Becton, Dickinson and Company. MarketBeat recorded 22 mentions for Abbott Laboratories and 19 mentions for Becton, Dickinson and Company. Becton, Dickinson and Company's average media sentiment score of 0.54 beat Abbott Laboratories' score of 0.48 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Abbott Laboratories received 331 more outperform votes than Becton, Dickinson and Company when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.64% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 62.33% of users gave Becton, Dickinson and Company an outperform vote.
Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus price target of $120.64, indicating a potential upside of 18.05%. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a consensus price target of $280.17, indicating a potential upside of 20.78%. Given Abbott Laboratories' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Becton, Dickinson and Company is more favorable than Abbott Laboratories.
Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Becton, Dickinson and Company pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Abbott Laboratories pays out 68.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Becton, Dickinson and Company pays out 83.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years and Becton, Dickinson and Company has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Becton, Dickinson and Company has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Abbott Laboratories has higher revenue and earnings than Becton, Dickinson and Company. Abbott Laboratories is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Becton, Dickinson and Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Abbott Laboratories has a net margin of 13.96% compared to Abbott Laboratories' net margin of 6.76%. Becton, Dickinson and Company's return on equity of 20.18% beat Abbott Laboratories' return on equity.
Summary
Abbott Laboratories beats Becton, Dickinson and Company on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding BDX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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