Critical Survey: Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Roche (OTCMKTS:RHHBY) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.4% of Pfizer shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Pfizer shares are held 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.

Dividends

Pfizer pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Roche pays an annual dividend of $0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Pfizer pays out 124.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Pfizer has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Pfizer is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Pfizer and Roche, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pfizer	1	13	5	3	2.45
Roche	1	3	1	2	2.57

Pfizer currently has a consensus target price of $28.55, suggesting a potential upside of 12.20%. Given Pfizer’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pfizer is more favorable than Roche.

Risk & Volatility

Pfizer has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Roche has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Pfizer and Roche”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pfizer	$63.63 billion	2.27	$8.03 billion	$1.38	18.44
Roche	$68.73 billion	3.75	$9.40 billion	N/A	N/A

Roche has higher revenue and earnings than Pfizer.

Profitability

This table compares Pfizer and Roche’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pfizer	12.62%	20.33%	8.53%
Roche	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Pfizer beats Roche on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. It also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Litfulo, Velsipity, and Cibinqo brands; amyloidosis, hemophilia, endocrine diseases, and sickle cell disease under the Vyndaqel family, Oxbryta, BeneFIX, Somavert, Ngenla, and Genotropin brands; sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, and Panzyga brands; and biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Inlyta, Bosulif, Mektovi, Padcev, Adcetris, Talzenna, Tukysa, Elrexfio, Tivdak, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands. In addition, the company involved in the contract manufacturing business. It serves wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, pharmacies, individual provider offices, retail pharmacies, and integrated delivery systems. The company has collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Astellas Pharma US, Inc.; Merck KGaA; and BioNTech SE. Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Roche

Roche Holding AG engages in the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics businesses in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Oceania. The company offers pharmaceutical products in the therapeutic areas of anemia, blood and solid tumors, dermatology, hemophilia, inflammatory and autoimmune, neurological disorders, ophthalmology, respiratory disorders, and transplantation. It is also developing products for various therapeutic areas. In addition, it offers in vitro tests for the diagnosis of various diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, Covid-19, hepatitis, human papillomavirus, and other diseases; diagnostic instruments; and digital health solutions. Roche Holding AG was founded in 1896 and is based in Basel, Switzerland.