Financial Survey: Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) & Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Johnson & Johnson and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Johnson & Johnson	$94.19 billion	7.07	$26.80 billion	$6.60	41.91
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$719.89 million	1.66	$98.09 million	$1.69	16.58

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Johnson & Johnson and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Johnson & Johnson	0	8	17	1	2.73
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	1	7	0	0	1.88

Johnson & Johnson currently has a consensus target price of $275.92, suggesting a potential downside of 0.26%. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $22.50, suggesting a potential downside of 19.70%. Given Johnson & Johnson’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Johnson & Johnson is more favorable than Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Johnson & Johnson and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Johnson & Johnson	16.20%	31.64%	13.04%
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	10.76%	14.98%	6.96%

Risk and Volatility

Johnson & Johnson has a beta of 0.22, suggesting that its stock price is 78% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.6% of Johnson & Johnson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Johnson & Johnson shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.6% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Johnson & Johnson beats Amphastar Pharmaceuticals on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension. The MedTech segment includes a portfolio of products used in the interventional solutions, orthopaedics, surgery, and vision categories. The company was founded by Robert Wood Johnson I, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson Sr. in 1887 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, NJ.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency. The company provides Amphadase, an injection to absorb and disperse other injected drugs; Epinephrine injection for allergic reactions; Lidocaine jelly, an anesthetic product for urological procedures; Lidocaine topical solution for various procedures; Phytonadione injection, a vitamin K1 injection for newborn babies; emergency syringe products; morphine injection for use with patient-controlled analgesia pumps; and Lorazepam injection for surgery and medical procedures. In addition, it offers Neostigmine methylsulfate injection to treat myasthenia gravis and to reverse the effects of muscle relaxants; Isoproterenol hydrochloride injection for mild or transient episodes of heart block; Ganirelix Acetate injection for the inhibition of premature luteinizing hormone surges; Vasopressin to increase blood pressure; and Regadenoson, a stress agent for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. Further, the company distributes recombinant human insulin APIs and porcine insulin API. Additionally, it develops generic product candidates, such as injectable, inhalation, and analytical technologies; biosimial product candidates; and intranasal epinephrine for the treatment of allergic reactions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.