Analyzing QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) and Tandem Diabetes Care (NASDAQ:TNDM)

Tandem Diabetes Care (NASDAQ:TNDM) and QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Tandem Diabetes Care and QuidelOrtho, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tandem Diabetes Care	1	12	9	1	2.43
QuidelOrtho	2	4	0	0	1.67

Tandem Diabetes Care currently has a consensus price target of $27.08, indicating a potential upside of 51.19%. QuidelOrtho has a consensus price target of $13.62, indicating a potential downside of 0.76%. Given Tandem Diabetes Care’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Tandem Diabetes Care is more favorable than QuidelOrtho.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.0% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.1% of Tandem Diabetes Care shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of QuidelOrtho shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Tandem Diabetes Care and QuidelOrtho”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tandem Diabetes Care	$1.01 billion	1.23	-$204.71 million	($0.93)	-19.26
QuidelOrtho	$2.73 billion	0.34	-$1.13 billion	($15.41)	-0.89

Tandem Diabetes Care has higher earnings, but lower revenue than QuidelOrtho. Tandem Diabetes Care is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than QuidelOrtho, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Tandem Diabetes Care has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, QuidelOrtho has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Tandem Diabetes Care and QuidelOrtho’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tandem Diabetes Care	-6.08%	-45.97%	-6.23%
QuidelOrtho	-39.20%	4.88%	1.63%

Summary

Tandem Diabetes Care beats QuidelOrtho on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tandem Diabetes Care

Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc., a medical device company, designs, develops, and commercializes technology solutions for people living with diabetes in the United States and internationally. The company's flagship product is the t:slim X2 insulin delivery system, a pump platform for managing insulin delivery and display continuous glucose monitoring sensor information directly on the pump home screen; and Tandem Mobi insulin pump, an automated insulin delivery system. It also sells single-use products, including cartridges for storing and delivering insulin, and infusion sets that connect the insulin pump to the user's body. In addition, the company offers Tandem Device Updater used to update the pump software from a personal computer; Tandem Source, a web-based data management platform, which provides a visual way to display diabetes therapy management data from the pumps, integrated CGMs, and supported blood glucose meters; and Sugarmate, a mobile app used to help people visualize diabetes therapy data. The company was formerly known as Phluid Inc. and changed its name to Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. in January 2008. Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About QuidelOrtho

QuidelOrtho Corporation provides diagnostic testing solutions. The company operates through Labs, Transfusion Medicine, Point-of-Care, and Molecular Diagnostics business units. The Labs business unit provides clinical chemistry laboratory instruments and tests that measure target chemicals in bodily fluids for the evaluation of health and the clinical management of patients; immunoassay laboratory instruments and tests, which measure proteins as they act as antigens in the spread of disease, antibodies in the immune response spurred by disease, or markers of proper organ function and health; testing products to detect and monitor disease progression across a spectrum of therapeutic areas; and specialized diagnostic solutions. The Transfusion Medicine business unit offers immunohematology instruments and tests used for blood typing to ensure patient-donor compatibility in blood transfusions; and donor screening instruments and tests used for blood and plasma screening for infectious diseases. The Point-of-Care business unit provides instruments and tests to provide rapid results across a continuum of point-of-care settings. The Molecular Diagnostics business unit offers polymerase chain reaction thermocyclers; amplification systems; and sample-to-result molecular instruments and tests for syndromic infectious disease diagnostics. The company sells its products directly to end users through a direct sales force; and through a network of distributors for professional use in physician offices, hospitals, clinical laboratories, reference laboratories, urgent care clinics, universities, retail clinics, pharmacies, wellness screening centers, blood banks, and donor centers, as well as for individual, non-professional, and over-the-counter use. It operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.