QuidelOrtho (QDEL) Competitors

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

Is QDEL or MMSI more profitable?

Merit Medical Systems has a net margin of 9.05% compared to QuidelOrtho's net margin of -72.84%. Merit Medical Systems' return on equity of 15.61% beat QuidelOrtho's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
QuidelOrtho	-72.84%	3.78%	1.80%
Merit Medical Systems	9.05%	15.61%	8.38%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, QDEL or MMSI?

Merit Medical Systems has lower revenue, but higher earnings than QuidelOrtho. QuidelOrtho 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
QuidelOrtho	$2.78B	0.86	-$2.03B	-$30.28	-1.17
Merit Medical Systems	$1.36B	4.54	$94.41M	$2.03	51.60

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

99.0% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Merit Medical Systems shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, QDEL or MMSI?

QuidelOrtho has a beta of 0.1, meaning that its stock price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merit Medical Systems has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to QDEL or MMSI?

In the previous week, Merit Medical Systems had 13 more articles in the media than QuidelOrtho. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Merit Medical Systems and 8 mentions for QuidelOrtho. QuidelOrtho's average media sentiment score of 1.48 beat Merit Medical Systems' score of 0.54 indicating that QuidelOrtho is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
QuidelOrtho	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Merit Medical Systems	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer QDEL or MMSI?

QuidelOrtho currently has a consensus price target of $51.20, indicating a potential upside of 44.84%. Merit Medical Systems has a consensus price target of $110.78, indicating a potential upside of 5.76%. Given QuidelOrtho's higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe QuidelOrtho is more favorable than Merit Medical Systems.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
QuidelOrtho	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Merit Medical Systems	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in QDEL or MMSI?

QuidelOrtho and Merit Medical Systems both received 446 outperform votes by MarketBeat users. However, 69.91% of users gave Merit Medical Systems an outperform vote while only 67.07% of users gave QuidelOrtho an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
QuidelOrtho	Outperform Votes 446 67.07%	Underperform Votes 219 32.93%
Merit Medical Systems	Outperform Votes 446 69.91%	Underperform Votes 192 30.09%

Summary

Merit Medical Systems beats QuidelOrtho on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.