Edwards Lifesciences (EW) Competitors

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, community ranking, valuation, risk, dividends, media sentiment and earnings.

Is SYK or EW more profitable?

Edwards Lifesciences has a net margin of 70.82% compared to Stryker's net margin of 16.34%. Stryker's return on equity of 23.07% beat Edwards Lifesciences' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stryker	16.34%	23.07%	11.04%
Edwards Lifesciences	70.82%	20.76%	15.27%

Which has more risk & volatility, SYK or EW?

Stryker has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edwards Lifesciences has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SYK or EW?

77.1% of Stryker shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are held by institutional investors. 5.5% of Stryker shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Edwards Lifesciences 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SYK or EW?

Edwards Lifesciences received 411 more outperform votes than Stryker when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.05% of users gave Edwards Lifesciences an outperform vote while only 64.71% of users gave Stryker an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Stryker	Outperform Votes 917 64.71%	Underperform Votes 500 35.29%
Edwards Lifesciences	Outperform Votes 1328 71.05%	Underperform Votes 541 28.95%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, SYK or EW?

Stryker has higher revenue and earnings than Edwards Lifesciences. Edwards Lifesciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stryker, 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
Stryker	$20.50B	7.23	$3.17B	$9.33	41.66
Edwards Lifesciences	$6.00B	6.90	$1.40B	$6.93	10.13

Does the media refer more to SYK or EW?

In the previous week, Edwards Lifesciences had 28 more articles in the media than Stryker. MarketBeat recorded 68 mentions for Edwards Lifesciences and 40 mentions for Stryker. Stryker's average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Edwards Lifesciences' score of 0.27 indicating that Stryker is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Stryker	32 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Edwards Lifesciences	21 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	34 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts recommend SYK or EW?

Stryker currently has a consensus target price of $393.65, indicating a potential upside of 1.28%. Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus target price of $75.67, indicating a potential upside of 7.79%. Given Edwards Lifesciences' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Edwards Lifesciences is more favorable than Stryker.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stryker	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Edwards Lifesciences	0 Sell rating(s)	16 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38

Summary

Stryker beats Edwards Lifesciences on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.