Azenta (AZTA) Competitors

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

Is AZTA or ESAB more profitable?

ESAB has a net margin of 9.47% compared to Azenta's net margin of -24.91%. ESAB's return on equity of 17.27% beat Azenta's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Azenta	-24.91%	1.25%	1.06%
ESAB	9.47%	17.27%	7.65%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in AZTA or ESAB?

99.1% of Azenta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of ESAB shares are held by institutional investors. 10.6% of Azenta shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.0% of ESAB shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable valuation and 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	3.09	-$164.17M	-$2.98	-14.88
ESAB	$2.77B	2.60	$205.29M	$4.27	27.91

Does the media prefer AZTA or ESAB?

In the previous week, ESAB had 20 more articles in the media than Azenta. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for ESAB and 5 mentions for Azenta. Azenta's average media sentiment score of 1.72 beat ESAB's score of 0.63 indicating that Azenta is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Azenta	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
ESAB	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta received 2 more outperform votes than ESAB when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 45.83% of users gave ESAB an outperform vote while only 42.86% of users gave Azenta an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Azenta	Outperform Votes 24 42.86%	Underperform Votes 32 57.14%
ESAB	Outperform Votes 22 45.83%	Underperform Votes 26 54.17%

Do analysts rate AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta currently has a consensus target price of $58.75, suggesting a potential upside of 32.50%. ESAB has a consensus target price of $133.43, suggesting a potential upside of 11.96%. Given Azenta's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities 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)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
ESAB	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Which has more volatility & risk, AZTA or ESAB?

Azenta has a beta of 1.47, indicating that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ESAB has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ESAB beats Azenta on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.