Analyzing Illumina (ILMN) & Its Rivals

Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN) is one of 109 public companies in the “Life Sciences Tools & Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Illumina to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Illumina and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Illumina	3	6	10	0	2.37
Illumina Competitors	957	3193	5530	179	2.50

Illumina presently has a consensus target price of $244.24, suggesting a potential upside of 17.98%. As a group, “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies have a potential downside of 0.46%. Given Illumina’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Illumina is more favorable than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

89.4% of Illumina shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.5% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Illumina shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Illumina and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Illumina	$4.34 billion	$850.00 million	35.63
Illumina Competitors	$2.29 billion	$55.88 billion	-7.60

Illumina has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Illumina is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk & Volatility

Illumina has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Illumina’s competitors have a beta of 0.94, suggesting that their average stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Illumina and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Illumina	19.72%	28.38%	12.11%
Illumina Competitors	-487.63%	40.45%	-13.30%

Summary

Illumina beats its competitors on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Illumina

Illumina, Inc. develops and supplies technologies used to analyze genetic variation and biological function. Its products include next-generation sequencing systems, microarrays, reagents and consumables, as well as software and related services that help customers generate and interpret genomic data. The company’s technology is used in applications such as medical and population research, genetic testing, drug development, and agricultural and environmental studies. Its customers include academic and government research institutions, hospitals and clinical laboratories, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and other organizations around the world.