Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) versus Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) Head-To-Head Review

Neogen (NASDAQ:NEOG) and Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE:BDX) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.7% of Neogen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.0% of Becton, Dickinson and Company shares are held by institutional investors. 0.5% of Neogen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Becton, Dickinson and Company shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Neogen has a beta of 1.79, indicating that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Becton, Dickinson and Company has a beta of 0.21, indicating that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Neogen and Becton, Dickinson and Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Neogen	-6.35%	3.29%	2.06%
Becton, Dickinson and Company	4.52%	14.79%	6.93%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Neogen and Becton, Dickinson and Company”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Neogen	$870.40 million	2.94	-$7.90 million	($0.25)	-46.92
Becton, Dickinson and Company	$21.84 billion	2.36	$1.68 billion	$3.32	56.40

Becton, Dickinson and Company has higher revenue and earnings than Neogen. Neogen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Becton, Dickinson and Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Neogen and Becton, Dickinson and Company, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Neogen	1	1	3	0	2.40
Becton, Dickinson and Company	1	9	7	0	2.35

Neogen currently has a consensus price target of $12.67, indicating a potential upside of 7.99%. Becton, Dickinson and Company has a consensus price target of $185.07, indicating a potential downside of 1.17%. Given Neogen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Neogen is more favorable than Becton, Dickinson and Company.

Summary

Becton, Dickinson and Company beats Neogen on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Neogen

Neogen Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of various products and services dedicated to food and animal safety worldwide. It operates through two segments, Food Safety and Animal Safety. The Food Safety segment offers diagnostic test kits and related products to detect dangerous and unintended substances in food and animal feed, including foodborne pathogens, spoilage organisms, natural toxins, food allergens, genetic modifications, ruminant by-products, meat speciation, drug residues, pesticide residues, and general sanitation concerns; and AccuPoint Advanced rapid sanitation test to detect the presence of adenosine triphosphate, a chemical found in living cells, as well as provides genomics-based diagnostic technology and software systems that help testers to objectively analyze and store their results and perform analysis on the results from multiple locations over extended periods. The segment offers its products primarily to milling and grain, meat and poultry, prepared foods and ingredients, fruits and vegetables, seafood, dairy, beverage, water, healthcare, traditional culture media markets, food service, and dietary supplements markets. The Animal Safety segment provides veterinary instruments, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, topicals, parasiticides, diagnostic products, rodent control products, cleaners, disinfectants, insect control products, and genomics testing services marketed through veterinarians, retailers, livestock producers, and animal health product distributors, for the animal safety market. The segment offers its products for companion animal veterinarians; livestock producers, veterinarians, and breed associations; retailers; breeding and genetics companies; diagnostic labs and universities; distributors; and other manufacturers and government agencies. Neogen Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Lansing, Michigan.

About Becton, Dickinson and Company

Becton, Dickinson and Company develops, manufactures, and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products for healthcare institutions, physicians, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical industry, and the general public worldwide. The company operates in three segments: BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional. The BD Medical segment provides peripheral intravenous (IV) and advanced peripheral catheters, central lines, acute dialysis catheters, vascular access technology, vascular care and preparation products, needle-free IV connectors and extensions sets, closed-system drug transfer devices, hazardous drug detections, hypodermic syringes and needles, anesthesia needles and trays, enteral syringes, and sharps disposal systems; IV medication safety and infusion therapy delivery systems, medication compounding workflow systems, automated medication dispensing and supply management systems, and medication inventory optimization and tracking systems; and prefillable drug delivery systems. The BD Life Sciences segment offers specimen and blood collection products; automated blood and tuberculosis culturing, molecular testing, microorganism identification and drug susceptibility, and liquid-based cytology systems, as well as rapid diagnostic assays, microbiology laboratory automation products, and plated media products; and fluorescence-activated cell sorters and analyzers, antibodies and kits, reagent systems, and solutions for single-cell gene expression analysis, as well as clinical oncology, immunological, and transplantation diagnostic/monitoring reagents and analyzers. The BD Interventional segment provides hernia and soft tissue repair, biological and bioresorbable grafts, biosurgery, and other surgical products; surgical infection prevention; peripheral intervention products; and urology and critical care products. The company was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.