ICU Medical (ICUI) Competitors

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

Is MMSI or ICUI more profitable?

Merit Medical Systems has a net margin of 9.05% compared to ICU Medical's net margin of -4.74%. Merit Medical Systems' return on equity of 15.61% beat ICU Medical's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merit Medical Systems	9.05%	15.61%	8.38%
ICU Medical	-4.74%	5.05%	2.42%

Which has better valuation & earnings, MMSI or ICUI?

Merit Medical Systems has higher earnings, but lower revenue than ICU Medical. ICU Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Merit Medical Systems, 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	$1.33B	4.52	$94.41M	$2.04	50.44
ICU Medical	$2.26B	1.78	-$29.66M	-$4.57	-35.86

Which has more risk & volatility, MMSI or ICUI?

Merit Medical Systems has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICU Medical has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MMSI or ICUI?

Merit Medical Systems received 45 more outperform votes than ICU Medical when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.48% of users gave Merit Medical Systems an outperform vote while only 64.37% of users gave ICU Medical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Merit Medical Systems	Outperform Votes 437 69.48%	Underperform Votes 192 30.52%
ICU Medical	Outperform Votes 392 64.37%	Underperform Votes 217 35.63%

Do analysts prefer MMSI or ICUI?

Merit Medical Systems presently has a consensus price target of $107.70, suggesting a potential upside of 4.66%. ICU Medical has a consensus price target of $199.67, suggesting a potential upside of 21.84%. Given ICU Medical's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ICU Medical is more favorable than Merit Medical Systems.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merit Medical Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
ICU Medical	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Does the media prefer MMSI or ICUI?

In the previous week, Merit Medical Systems had 11 more articles in the media than ICU Medical. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Merit Medical Systems and 2 mentions for ICU Medical. Merit Medical Systems' average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat ICU Medical's score of 0.64 indicating that Merit Medical Systems is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Merit Medical Systems	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
ICU Medical	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of MMSI or ICUI?

99.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of ICU Medical shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of ICU Medical shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Merit Medical Systems beats ICU Medical on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.