Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) and Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) Head to Head Review

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) and Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.8% of Embecta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.1% of Nephros shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Embecta shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Nephros shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Embecta has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Nephros has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Embecta and Nephros’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Embecta	6.23%	-19.09%	12.27%
Nephros	-9.40%	-15.64%	-11.43%

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Embecta	$1.12 billion	0.81	$70.40 million	$1.21	12.98
Nephros	$13.77 million	1.38	-$1.58 million	($0.14)	-12.89

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Embecta and Nephros, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Embecta	1	1	0	0	1.50
Nephros	0	0	1	0	3.00

Embecta presently has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential downside of 23.62%. Nephros has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 177.01%. Given Nephros’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Nephros is more favorable than Embecta.

About Embecta

Embecta Corp., a medical device company, focuses on the provision of various solutions to enhance the health and wellbeing of people living with diabetes. Its products include pen needles, syringes, and safety injection devices, as well as digital applications to assist people with managing patient's diabetes. The company primarily sells its products to wholesalers and distributors in the United States and internationally. Embecta Corp. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

About Nephros

Nephros, Inc., a commercial-stage company, develops and sells water solutions to the medical and commercial markets in the United States. It offers ultrafiltration products that are used in dialysis centers for the removal of biological contaminants from water and bicarbonate concentrate; and in hospitals for the prevention of infection from waterborne pathogens, such as legionella and pseudomonas, as well as in military and outdoor recreation, commercial, and other healthcare facilities. The company also manufactures and sells water filters that enhance the taste and odor of water, as well as reduce biofilm, cysts, particulates, and scale build-up in downstream equipment. It markets its products to food service, hospitality, convenience store, and health care markets, as well as medical institutions. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in South Orange, New Jersey.