Contrasting Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR) and Titan Medical (NASDAQ:TMDIF)

Titan Medical (NASDAQ:TMDIF) and Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Titan Medical and Avinger’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Titan Medical	N/A	-82.31%	-51.47%
Avinger	-261.06%	-5,527.11%	-123.25%

Volatility & Risk

Titan Medical has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avinger has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

0.0% of Titan Medical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.3% of Avinger shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Titan Medical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 43.7% of Avinger shares are held by 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 Titan Medical and Avinger”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Titan Medical	$17.63 million	2.59	$6.95 million	$0.05	8.00
Avinger	$7.26 million	0.29	-$18.32 million	($11.06)	-0.06

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Titan Medical and Avinger, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Titan Medical	0	0	0	0	0.00
Avinger	0	0	1	0	3.00

Avinger has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 678.33%. Given Avinger’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Avinger is more favorable than Titan Medical.

Summary

Titan Medical beats Avinger on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Titan Medical

Titan Medical Inc. operates as a medical technology company. It focuses on the development and licensing of robotic assisted surgical technologies. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

About Avinger

Avinger, Inc., a commercial-stage medical device company, designs, manufactures, and sells a suite of image-guided and catheter-based systems used by physicians to treat patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) primarily in the United States and Germany. The company develops lumivascular platform that integrates optical coherence tomography visualization with interventional catheters to provide real-time intravascular imaging during the treatment portion of PAD procedures. Its lumivascular products comprise Lightbox imaging consoles; the Ocelot and Tigereye family of devices, which are designed to allow physicians to penetrate a total blockage in an artery; and Pantheris, an image-guided atherectomy device that allows physicians to precisely remove arterial plaque in PAD patients. The company is also developing IMAGE-BTK for the treatment of PAD lesions below-the-knee. It markets and sells its products to interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Redwood City, California.