Contrasting Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) and Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP)

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) and Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Qiagen and Medpace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Qiagen	19.49%	14.47%	8.34%
Medpace	17.67%	110.15%	24.84%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Qiagen and Medpace, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Qiagen	0	9	4	1	2.43
Medpace	0	10	3	0	2.23

Qiagen presently has a consensus price target of $43.93, indicating a potential downside of 2.08%. Medpace has a consensus price target of $584.18, indicating a potential downside of 4.65%. Given Qiagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Qiagen is more favorable than Medpace.

Risk & Volatility

Qiagen has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medpace has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.0% of Qiagen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of Medpace shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of Qiagen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of Medpace shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Qiagen and Medpace”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Qiagen	$2.10 billion	4.40	$424.88 million	$1.95	23.01
Medpace	$2.53 billion	6.76	$451.12 million	$17.06	35.91

Medpace has higher revenue and earnings than Qiagen. Qiagen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medpace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Medpace beats Qiagen on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN NV is a holding company, which engages in the provision of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. The company sample technologies isolate and process DNA, RNA, and proteins from blood, tissue, and other materials. The firm assay technologies make these biomolecules visible and ready for analysis. Its bioinformatics software and knowledge bases interpret data to report relevant, actionable insights. The company was founded by Detlev H. Riesner and Metin Colpan on April 29, 1996, and is headquartered in Venlo, the Netherlands.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Its services include medical department, clinical trial management, data-driven feasibility, study-start-up, clinical monitoring, regulatory affairs, patient recruitment and retention, medical writing, biometrics and data sciences, pharmacovigilance, core laboratory, laboratories, clinics, and quality assurance. The company was founded by August James Troendle in 1992 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.