STAAR Surgical (STAA) Competitors

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) and National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, community ranking, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Is STAA or EYE more profitable?

STAAR Surgical has a net margin of 6.38% compared to National Vision's net margin of -0.81%. STAAR Surgical's return on equity of 6.77% beat National Vision's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
STAAR Surgical	6.38%	6.77%	5.39%
National Vision	-0.81%	3.52%	1.39%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in STAA or EYE?

STAAR Surgical received 34 more outperform votes than National Vision when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.63% of users gave National Vision an outperform vote while only 55.60% of users gave STAAR Surgical an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
STAAR Surgical	Outperform Votes 288 55.60%	Underperform Votes 230 44.40%
National Vision	Outperform Votes 254 65.63%	Underperform Votes 133 34.37%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in STAA or EYE?

96.7% of STAAR Surgical shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of STAAR Surgical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of National Vision shares are held by 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 more risk & volatility, STAA or EYE?

STAAR Surgical has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Vision has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to STAA or EYE?

In the previous week, STAAR Surgical had 2 more articles in the media than National Vision. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for STAAR Surgical and 4 mentions for National Vision. STAAR Surgical's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat National Vision's score of 0.94 indicating that STAAR Surgical is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
STAAR Surgical	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
National Vision	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer STAA or EYE?

STAAR Surgical currently has a consensus price target of $43.33, indicating a potential upside of 62.54%. National Vision has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 26.93%. Given STAAR Surgical's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe STAAR Surgical is more favorable than National Vision.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
STAAR Surgical	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
National Vision	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has better earnings and valuation, STAA or EYE?

STAAR Surgical has higher earnings, but lower revenue than National Vision. National Vision is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than STAAR Surgical, 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
STAAR Surgical	$341.22M	3.85	$21.35M	$0.44	60.59
National Vision	$2.13B	0.41	-$65.90M	-$0.20	-55.15

Summary

STAAR Surgical beats National Vision on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.