Head-To-Head Contrast: Artivion (NYSE:AORT) and RenovoRx (NASDAQ:RNXT)

RenovoRx (NASDAQ:RNXT) and Artivion (NYSE:AORT) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for RenovoRx and Artivion, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
RenovoRx	1	0	2	1	2.75
Artivion	1	0	7	0	2.75

RenovoRx presently has a consensus price target of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 404.45%. Artivion has a consensus price target of $44.83, suggesting a potential upside of 93.37%. Given RenovoRx’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe RenovoRx is more favorable than Artivion.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.1% of RenovoRx shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of Artivion shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of RenovoRx shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Artivion shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares RenovoRx and Artivion’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
RenovoRx	-621.71%	-135.11%	-101.91%
Artivion	-0.67%	6.07%	2.93%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares RenovoRx and Artivion”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
RenovoRx	$1.12 million	67.90	-$11.17 million	($0.31)	-5.44
Artivion	$441.33 million	2.56	$9.77 million	($0.07)	-331.21

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

Volatility & Risk

RenovoRx has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Artivion has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Artivion beats RenovoRx on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About RenovoRx

RenovoRx, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing proprietary targeted combination therapies to improve therapeutic outcomes for cancer patients undergoing treatment. Its lead product candidate is RenovoGem, an oncology drug-device combination product, consisting of intra-arterial gemcitabine and RenovoCath that is in Phase III clinical trials for the locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The company has a research collaboration with Imugene Limited to deliver oncolytic virus therapy for the treatment of difficult-to-access tumors. RenovoRx, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Altos, California.

About Artivion

Artivion, Inc. manufactures, processes, and distributes medical devices and implantable human tissues worldwide. The company provides BioGlue, a polymer consisting of bovine blood protein and an agent for cross-linking proteins for cardiac, vascular, neurologic, and pulmonary procedures; cardiac preservation services; PhotoFix, a bovine pericardial patch; and aortic arch stent grafts including E-vita Open Plus and E-vita Open Neo. It offers E-xtra design engineering systems for the treatment of aortic vascular diseases; E-nside, an off-the-shelf stent graft for the treatment of thoraco-abdominal disease; E-vita THORACIC 3G for the endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms; E-ventus BX, a balloon-expandable peripheral stent graft for the endovascular treatment of renal and pelvic arteries; E-liac to treat aneurysmal iliac arteries, and aneurysmal iliac side branches; and E-tegra, a stent graft system for the treatment of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms. In addition, the company offers synthetic vascular grafts for use in open aortic and peripheral vascular surgical procedures; PerClot, an absorbable powdered hemostat for use in surgical procedures; cardiac laser therapy products for angina treatment; CryoVein femoral vein and CryoArtery femoral artery vascular preservation services; On-X prosthetic aortic and mitral heart valves and the On-X ascending aortic prosthesis; CarbonAid CO2 diffusion catheters and Chord-X ePTFE sutures for mitral chordal replacement; and ascyrus medical dissection stents, as well as pyrolytic carbon coating services to medical device manufacturers. It serves physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities, as well as cardiac, vascular, thoracic, and general surgeons. The company was formerly known as CryoLife, Inc. and changed its name to Artivion, Inc. in January 2022. Artivion, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia.