Grail (GRAL) versus The Competition Critical Analysis

Grail (NASDAQ:GRAL) is one of 48 public companies in the “Medical laboratories” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Grail to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

47.5% of shares of all “Medical laboratories” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Grail shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.8% of shares of all “Medical laboratories” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grail	N/A	N/A	N/A
Grail Competitors	-3,479.68%	-975.07%	-26.59%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Grail and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grail	$130.71 million	N/A	-0.63
Grail Competitors	$1.05 billion	-$110.55 million	-5.62

Grail’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Grail. Grail 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Grail and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grail	0	3	1	0	2.25
Grail Competitors	368	1441	2419	42	2.50

Grail currently has a consensus target price of $31.50, indicating a potential downside of 18.29%. As a group, “Medical laboratories” companies have a potential upside of 1,361.26%. Given Grail’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Grail has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Summary

Grail competitors beat Grail on 7 of the 11 factors compared.

Grail Company Profile

GRAIL, Inc. operates as a commercial-stage healthcare company, which engages in the development of a technology for early detection of cancer. It utilizes machine learning, software, and automation to detect and identify multiple deadly cancer types in earlier stages. The company was founded by Jeffrey T. Huber, William H. Rastetter, Mostafa Ronaghi, and Richard D. Klausner on September 11, 2015 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.