Seer (NASDAQ:SEER) versus Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD) Critical Analysis

Mettler-Toledo International (NYSE:MTD – Get Rating) and Seer (NASDAQ:SEER – Get Rating) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Mettler-Toledo International and Seer, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mettler-Toledo International	0	5	2	0	2.29
Seer	1	2	0	0	1.67

Mettler-Toledo International currently has a consensus target price of $1,469.50, indicating a potential upside of 11.89%. Seer has a consensus target price of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 141.12%. Given Seer’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Seer is more favorable than Mettler-Toledo International.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Seer’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mettler-Toledo International	$3.92 billion	7.38	$872.50 million	$39.38	33.35
Seer	$15.49 million	16.21	-$92.97 million	($1.49)	-2.64

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

Profitability

This table compares Mettler-Toledo International and Seer’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mettler-Toledo International	22.45%	-4,833.51%	26.87%
Seer	-574.63%	-20.62%	-18.87%

Risk and Volatility

Mettler-Toledo International has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Seer has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.9% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.2% of Seer shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Mettler-Toledo International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of Seer shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mettler-Toledo International beats Seer on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mettler-Toledo International

(Get Rating)

Mettler-Toledo International, Inc. engages in the provision of precision instruments and services. The firm manufactures weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, packaging, logistics, and food retailing applications. It also manufactures several related analytical instruments and provides automated chemistry solutions used in drug and chemical compound discovery and development, metal detection and other end-of-line inspection systems used in production and packaging and provides solutions for use in certain process analytics applications. Its operations are conducted by the following segments: U.S. Operations, Swiss Operations, Western European Operations, Chinese Operations, and Other. The U.S. Operations segment represents certain of the company’s marketing and producing organizations located in the United States. The Swiss Operations segment includes marketing and producing organizations located in Switzerland, as well as extensive R&D operations that are responsible for the development, production, and marketing of precision instruments, including weighing, analytical, and measurement technologies for use in a variety of industrial and laboratory applications. T

About Seer

(Get Rating)

Seer, Inc., a life sciences company, engages in developing and commercializing products to decode the secrets of the proteome. It develops Proteograph Product Suite, an integrated solution that comprises consumables, an automation instrumentation, and software that allows researchers to conduct proteomic studies in therapeutic and diagnostic research, and clinical trials. The company intends to sell its products for research purposes, which cover academic institutions, life sciences, and research laboratories, as well as biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for non-diagnostic and non-clinical purposes. It has a collaboration agreement with Discovery Life Sciences, LLC. and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The company was formerly known as Seer Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Seer, Inc. in July 2018. Seer, Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.