Premier (NASDAQ:PINC) versus Veritec (OTCMKTS:VRTC) Critical Survey

Premier (NASDAQ:PINC – Get Rating) and Veritec (OTCMKTS:VRTC – Get Rating) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Premier has a beta of 0.29, suggesting that its share price is 71% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veritec has a beta of -21.4, suggesting that its share price is 2,240% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Premier and Veritec, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Premier	0	3	7	0	2.70
Veritec	0	0	0	0	N/A

Premier presently has a consensus price target of $40.70, suggesting a potential upside of 31.16%. Given Premier’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Premier is more favorable than Veritec.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.9% of Premier shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Premier shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 51.8% of Veritec shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Premier and Veritec’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Premier	12.85%	11.54%	7.55%
Veritec	-201.65%	N/A	-460.19%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Premier and Veritec’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Premier	$1.36 billion	2.71	$265.87 million	$1.47	21.11
Veritec	$350,000.00	2.29	-$510,000.00	($0.03)	-0.67

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

Summary

Premier beats Veritec on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Premier

(Get Rating)

Premier, Inc. engages in the provision of healthcare improvement solutions. It operates through the Supply Chain Services and Performance Services segments. The Supply Chain Services segment includes healthcare group purchasing organization (GPO) programs in the United States, supply chain co-management, and direct sourcing activities. The Performance Services segment consists of informatics, collaborative, consulting services, direct-to-employer initiative, and insurance management services businesses. The company was founded on May 14, 2013 and is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.

About Veritec

(Get Rating)

Veritec, Inc. engages in the development, sales, and licensing of products. It also provides services related to mobile banking solutions. The firm also operates in back-end cardholder transaction processing services for visa-branded card programs on behalf of its sponsoring bank. The company was founded on September 8, 1982 and is headquartered in Golden Valley, MN.