STERIS (NYSE:STE) & LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) Head to Head Analysis

STERIS (NYSE:STE) and LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for STERIS and LeMaitre Vascular, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
STERIS	0	1	3	0	2.75
LeMaitre Vascular	0	5	4	0	2.44

STERIS presently has a consensus price target of $271.33, suggesting a potential upside of 22.08%. LeMaitre Vascular has a consensus price target of $110.60, suggesting a potential upside of 34.37%. Given LeMaitre Vascular’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe LeMaitre Vascular is more favorable than STERIS.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares STERIS and LeMaitre Vascular”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
STERIS	$5.94 billion	3.65	$782.30 million	$8.18	27.17
LeMaitre Vascular	$262.43 million	7.17	$57.73 million	$2.85	28.88

STERIS has higher revenue and earnings than LeMaitre Vascular. STERIS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LeMaitre Vascular, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares STERIS and LeMaitre Vascular’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
STERIS	13.34%	14.34%	9.66%
LeMaitre Vascular	25.02%	15.63%	10.06%

Dividends

STERIS pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. LeMaitre Vascular pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. STERIS pays out 33.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LeMaitre Vascular pays out 35.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. STERIS has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years and LeMaitre Vascular has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. STERIS is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

94.7% of STERIS shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of STERIS shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

STERIS has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LeMaitre Vascular has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

STERIS beats LeMaitre Vascular on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About STERIS

STERIS plc provides infection prevention products and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, Life Sciences, and Dental. The Healthcare segment offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products; automated endoscope reprocessing system and tracking products; endoscopy accessories, washers, sterilizers, and other pieces of capital equipment for the operation of a sterile processing department; and equipment used directly in the operating room, including surgical tables, lights, and connectivity solutions, as well as equipment management services. It also provides capital equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; preventive maintenance programs and repair services; instrument and endoscope repair and maintenance services; and custom process improvement consulting and outsourced instrument sterile processing services. The Applied Sterilization Technologies segment provides contract sterilization and testing services for medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers through a network of approximately 50 contract sterilization and laboratory facilities. The Life Sciences segment designs, manufactures and sells consumable products, such as formulated cleaning chemistries, barrier, sterility assurance products, steam and vaporized hydrogen peroxide sterilizers, and washer disinfectors. This segment also offers equipment installation, maintenance, upgradation, repair, and troubleshooting services; and preventive maintenance programs and repair services. The Dental segment provides hand and electric-powered dental instruments, infection control products, conscious sedation, personal protective equipment, and water quality products for dental suite. The company serves its products and services to hospitals, other healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company was founded in 1985 and is based in Dublin, Ireland.

About LeMaitre Vascular

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices and implants used in the field of vascular surgery worldwide. It offers human cadaver tissue cryopreservation services; angioscope, a fiberoptic catheter used for viewing the lumen of a blood vessel; embolectomy catheters to remove blood clots from arteries; thrombectomy catheters for removing thrombi in the venous system; occlusion catheters that temporarily occlude the blood flow; and perfusion catheters to perfuse the blood and other fluids into the vasculature. The company also provides artegraft biologic graft, a bovine carotid artery used for dialysis access; XenoSure biologic patches, used for closure of vessels after surgical intervention; VascuCel and CardioCel biologic patches, used in vessel repair, heart repair and reconstruction, and neonatal repairs; cardiovascular patches; carotid shunts that temporarily shunt the blood to the brain during the removal of plaque in a carotid endarterectomy surgery; biosynthetic vascular graft indicated for lower extremity bypass and dialysis access; and vascular grafts used to bypass or replace diseased arteries. In addition, it offers radiopaque tape, a medical-grade tape applied to the skin that enables surgeons and interventionalists to cross-refer between the inside and the outside of a patient’s body and allows them to locate tributaries or lesions beneath the skin. Further, the company provides valvulotomes, which cut or disrupt valves in the saphenous vein to function as an artery to carry blood past diseased arteries to the lower leg or the foot; and closure systems to attach vessels to one another with titanium clips instead of sutures. It markets its products through a direct sales force and distributors. The company was formerly known as Vascutech, Inc. and changed its name to LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. in April 2001. LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.