PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) and Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN) Critical Analysis

PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) and Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for PetMed Express and Guardian Pharmacy Services, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PetMed Express	1	1	0	0	1.50
Guardian Pharmacy Services	0	0	3	0	3.00

PetMed Express currently has a consensus target price of $3.50, suggesting a potential downside of 27.84%. Guardian Pharmacy Services has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.98%. Given Guardian Pharmacy Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Guardian Pharmacy Services is more favorable than PetMed Express.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.3% of PetMed Express shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of PetMed Express shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares PetMed Express and Guardian Pharmacy Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PetMed Express	-0.37%	-1.00%	-0.60%
Guardian Pharmacy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PetMed Express and Guardian Pharmacy Services”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PetMed Express	$259.34 million	0.39	-$7.46 million	($0.06)	-80.83
Guardian Pharmacy Services	$1.17 billion	1.28	N/A	N/A	N/A

Guardian Pharmacy Services has higher revenue and earnings than PetMed Express.

Summary

Guardian Pharmacy Services beats PetMed Express on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PetMed Express

PetMed Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a pet pharmacy in the United States. The company markets prescription and non-prescription pet medications, health products, and other supplies for dogs, cats, and horses. It offers non-prescription medications and supplies, such as flea and tick control products, bone and joint care products, vitamins, treats, nutritional supplements, hygiene products, and household pet supplies; and prescription medications, including heartworm preventatives, flea and tick preventatives, arthritis, dermatitis, thyroid, diabetes, pain medications, heart/blood pressure, and other specialty medications, as well as generic substitutes. The company also sells food, beds, crates, stairs, and other pet supplies. It sells its products through its Internet website; mobile app; customer support center; and direct mail/print, which includes brochures and postcards. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida.

About Guardian Pharmacy Services

Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc., a pharmacy service company, provides a suite of technology-enabled services designed to help residents of long-term health care facilities (LTCFs) in the United States. Its individualized clinical, drug dispensing, and administration capabilities are used to serve the needs of residents in lower acuity LTCFs, such as assisted living facilities and behavioral health facilities and group homes. The company’s Guardian Compass includes dashboards created using data from its data warehouse to help its local pharmacies plan, track, and optimize their business operations; and GuardianShield Programs for LTCFs. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.