Azenta (AZTA) Competitors

Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) and ESAB (NYSE:ESAB) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, media sentiment, community ranking, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is AZTA or ESAB more profitable?

ESAB has a net margin of 9.47% compared to Azenta's net margin of -25.01%. ESAB's return on equity of 17.27% beat Azenta's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Azenta	-25.01%	1.03%	0.89%
ESAB	9.47%	17.27%	7.65%

Which has more risk & volatility, AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESAB has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation & earnings, AZTA or ESAB?

ESAB has higher revenue and earnings than Azenta. Azenta is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ESAB, 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
Azenta	$656.32M	3.50	-$164.17M	-$2.97	-16.98
ESAB	$2.76B	2.64	$205.29M	$4.27	28.26

Is AZTA or ESAB a better dividend stock?

Azenta pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. ESAB pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Azenta pays out -3.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. ESAB pays out 7.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta received 1 more outperform votes than ESAB when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 46.67% of users gave ESAB an outperform vote while only 41.51% of users gave Azenta an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Azenta	Outperform Votes 22 41.51%	Underperform Votes 31 58.49%
ESAB	Outperform Votes 21 46.67%	Underperform Votes 24 53.33%

Do analysts prefer AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta presently has a consensus price target of $61.60, indicating a potential upside of 22.15%. ESAB has a consensus price target of $133.43, indicating a potential upside of 10.57%. Given Azenta's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Azenta is more favorable than ESAB.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Azenta	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
ESAB	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of AZTA or ESAB?

99.1% of Azenta shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of ESAB shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Azenta shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.2% of ESAB shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to AZTA or ESAB?

In the previous week, Azenta had 1 more articles in the media than ESAB. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Azenta and 5 mentions for ESAB. ESAB's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Azenta's score of 0.42 indicating that ESAB is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Azenta	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
ESAB	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

ESAB beats Azenta on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.