Nautilus Biotechnology (NASDAQ:NAUT) vs. Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) Critical Survey

Nautilus Biotechnology (NASDAQ:NAUT – Get Rating) and Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO – Get Rating) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Nautilus Biotechnology has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harvard Bioscience has a beta of 1.63, suggesting that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

45.3% of Nautilus Biotechnology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.4% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by institutional investors. 41.3% of Nautilus Biotechnology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Harvard Bioscience shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Nautilus Biotechnology and Harvard Bioscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nautilus Biotechnology	N/A	-17.79%	-16.17%
Harvard Bioscience	-5.84%	4.00%	1.99%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Nautilus Biotechnology and Harvard Bioscience, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nautilus Biotechnology	0	2	0	0	2.00
Harvard Bioscience	0	0	1	0	3.00

Nautilus Biotechnology currently has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 119.78%. Harvard Bioscience has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 38.41%. Given Nautilus Biotechnology’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Nautilus Biotechnology is more favorable than Harvard Bioscience.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Nautilus Biotechnology and Harvard Bioscience’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nautilus Biotechnology	N/A	N/A	-$50.31 million	($0.49)	-3.71
Harvard Bioscience	$118.90 million	1.01	-$290,000.00	($0.17)	-17.00

Harvard Bioscience has higher revenue and earnings than Nautilus Biotechnology. Harvard Bioscience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nautilus Biotechnology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Harvard Bioscience beats Nautilus Biotechnology on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nautilus Biotechnology

(Get Rating)

Nautilus Biotechnology, Inc., a development stage life sciences company, engages in creating a platform technology for quantifying and unlocking the complexity of the proteome. It develops Nautilus Platform, a proteomics platform that includes end-to-end solution comprised of instruments, consumables, and software analysis. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About Harvard Bioscience

(Get Rating)

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells technologies, products and services that enable fundamental research, discovery, and pre-clinical testing for drug development. It operates under the geographical segments: United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Rest of the world. It sells its products through catalog, Website, distributors, and direct sales force. The company was founded by Dr. William T. Porter in 1901 and is headquartered in Holliston, MA.