Contrasting West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) & MiMedx Group (NASDAQ:MDXG)

West Pharmaceutical Services (NYSE:WST) and MiMedx Group (NASDAQ:MDXG) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

West Pharmaceutical Services has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MiMedx Group has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for West Pharmaceutical Services and MiMedx Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
West Pharmaceutical Services	0	1	2	0	2.67
MiMedx Group	0	0	5	0	3.00

West Pharmaceutical Services presently has a consensus price target of $460.33, indicating a potential upside of 42.98%. MiMedx Group has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.65%. Given West Pharmaceutical Services’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe West Pharmaceutical Services is more favorable than MiMedx Group.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.9% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of MiMedx Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of West Pharmaceutical Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of MiMedx Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and MiMedx Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
West Pharmaceutical Services	17.37%	18.41%	13.74%
MiMedx Group	23.86%	26.21%	18.15%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares West Pharmaceutical Services and MiMedx Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
West Pharmaceutical Services	$2.95 billion	7.90	$593.40 million	$6.74	47.77
MiMedx Group	$321.48 million	4.37	$58.23 million	$0.55	17.36

West Pharmaceutical Services has higher revenue and earnings than MiMedx Group. MiMedx Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than West Pharmaceutical Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About West Pharmaceutical Services

West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems; syringe and cartridge components, including custom solutions for the needs of injectable drug applications, as well as administration systems that enhance the safe delivery of drugs through advanced reconstitution, mixing, and transfer technologies; and films, coatings, washing, and vision inspection and sterilization processes and services to enhance the quality of packaging components. This segment also provides drug containment solutions, including Crystal Zenith, a cyclic olefin polymer in the form of vials, syringes, and cartridges; and self-injection devices; and a range of integrated solutions, including analytical lab services, pre-approval primary packaging support and engineering development, regulatory expertise, and after-sales technical support. This segment serves biologic, generic, and pharmaceutical drug companies. The Contract-Manufactured Products segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and automated assembly of devices used in surgical, diagnostic, ophthalmic, injectable, and other drug delivery systems, as well as consumer products. The company serves pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. It sells and distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, contract sales agents, and regional distributors. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania.

About MiMedx Group

MiMedx Group, Inc. develops and distributes placental tissue allografts for various sectors of healthcare. It processes the human placental tissues utilizing its patented and proprietary PURION process to produce allografts that retains the tissue’s inherent biological properties and regulatory proteins. The company’s patented and proprietary processing method employs aseptic processing techniques in addition to terminal sterilization. Its products include EpiFix, a barrier membrane allograft used for the treatment of chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and pressure ulcers; AmnioFix, a protective barrier allograft, which comprises dehydrated human amnion/chorion membrane for use in surgical recovery applications; and EpiCord and AmnioCord are dehydrated human umbilical cord allografts that are used to provide a protective environment for the healing process, as well as used in the advanced wound care and surgical recovery applications. The company’s products have applications in the areas of wound care, burn, surgical sectors of healthcare. The company sells its products through direct sales force and independent sales agents, as well as through independent distributors primarily in the United States. MiMedx Group, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Marietta, Georgia.