Head to Head Analysis: Sector 10 (OTCMKTS:SECI) & Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO)

Sector 10 (OTCMKTS:SECI) and Harvard Bioscience (NASDAQ:HBIO) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.1% of Harvard Bioscience shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.2% of Sector 10 shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Harvard Bioscience shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sector 10 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
Sector 10	N/A	N/A	N/A	($3.43)	0.00
Harvard Bioscience	$112.52 million	1.62	-$9.52 million	($0.08)	-53.50

Sector 10 has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Harvard Bioscience. Harvard Bioscience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sector 10, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Sector 10 and Harvard Bioscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sector 10	N/A	N/A	N/A
Harvard Bioscience	-2.90%	3.42%	1.77%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Sector 10 and Harvard Bioscience, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sector 10	0	0	0	0	N/A
Harvard Bioscience	0	0	1	0	3.00

Harvard Bioscience has a consensus target price of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 63.55%. Given Harvard Bioscience’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Harvard Bioscience is more favorable than Sector 10.

Summary

Harvard Bioscience beats Sector 10 on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sector 10

Sector 10, Inc., a development stage company, markets MRU SRU product lines and various solutions related to mobile assets. Sector 10, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is based in Bellevue, Washington.

About Harvard Bioscience

Harvard Bioscience, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells technologies, products, and services for life science applications in the United States and internationally. The company offers cellular and molecular technology products, such as syringe and peristaltic infusion pump products; electroporation and electrofusion instruments, amino acid analyzers, spectrophotometers, and other equipment for molecular level testing and research; and precision scientific measuring instrumentation and equipment, including data acquisition systems for cellular analysis, complete micro electrode array solutions for in vivo recordings, and in vitro systems for extracellular recordings. It also provides preclinical products that includes platform to assess physiological data from organisms for research, drug discovery, and drug development services comprising implantable and externally worn telemetry systems for use in research to collect cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory, and metabolic data; behavioral products; isolated organ and surgical products, instruments and accessories for tissue, and organ-based lab research, including surgical products, infusion systems, and behavior research systems; turn-key respiratory system solutions, including plethysmograph chambers, data acquisition hardware, physiological signal analysis software, and final report generation; inhalation and exposure systems; and GLP-capable data acquisition and analysis systems. The company markets its products through sales organizations, websites, and distributors to research scientists in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, hospitals, and government laboratories; and contract research organizations and academic labs. It primarily sells its products under Harvard Apparatus, DSI, Buxco, Biochrom, BTX, Heka, Hugo Sachs, Multichannel Systems MCS GmbH, and Panlab brands. The company was founded in 1901 and is based in Holliston, Massachusetts.