Critical Survey: Bio-Techne (TECH) and Its Competitors

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

Profitability

This table compares Bio-Techne and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Bio-Techne	14.97%	13.23%	10.61%
Bio-Techne Competitors	-538.54%	-166.23%	-13.47%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Bio-Techne and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Bio-Techne	1	14	1	1	2.12
Bio-Techne Competitors	951	3172	5504	178	2.50

Bio-Techne presently has a consensus target price of $68.92, suggesting a potential downside of 5.25%. As a group, “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies have a potential downside of 2.98%. Given Bio-Techne’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bio-Techne has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.0% of Bio-Techne shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Bio-Techne shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Bio-Techne has a beta of 1.29, meaning that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bio-Techne’s competitors have a beta of 0.94, meaning that their average share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Bio-Techne and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Bio-Techne	$1.22 billion	$181.86 million	63.26
Bio-Techne Competitors	$2.33 billion	$55.11 billion	-8.28

Bio-Techne’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Bio-Techne. Bio-Techne 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.

Dividends

Bio-Techne pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Bio-Techne pays out 27.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Life Sciences Tools & Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.1% and pay out 44.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Bio-Techne beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Bio-Techne Company Profile

Bio-Techne Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells life science reagents, instruments, and services for the research and clinical diagnostic markets in the United States, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, Middle East, and Africa, Greater China, rest of Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Protein Sciences, and Diagnostics and Genomics. The Protein Sciences segment develops and manufactures biological reagents used in various aspects of life science research, diagnostics, and cell and gene therapy, such as cytokines and growth factors, antibodies, small molecules, tissue culture sera, and cell selection technologies. This segment also offers proteomic analytical tools for automated western blot and multiplexed ELISA workflow consists of manual and automated protein analysis instruments and immunoassays for use in quantifying proteins in various biological fluids. The Diagnostics and Genomics segment develops and manufactures diagnostic products, including controls, calibrators, and diagnostic assays for regulated diagnostics market, exosome-based molecular diagnostic assays, advanced tissue-based in-situ hybridization assays for spatial genomic and tissue biopsy analysis, and genetic and oncology kits for research and clinical applications; and sells products for genetic carrier screening, oncology diagnostics, molecular controls, and research, as well as instruments and process control products for hematology, blood chemistry and gases, and coagulation controls and reagents used in various diagnostic applications. The company was formerly known as Techne Corporation and changed its name to Bio-Techne Corporation in November 2014. Bio-Techne Corporation was incorporated in 1976 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.