Financial Review: NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) & Minerva Surgical (NASDAQ:UTRS)

Minerva Surgical (NASDAQ:UTRS) and NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.6% of NovoCure shares are held by institutional investors. 8.5% of Minerva Surgical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of NovoCure shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Minerva Surgical has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NovoCure has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Minerva Surgical and NovoCure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Minerva Surgical	-64.71%	-136.40%	-43.70%
NovoCure	-40.65%	-51.63%	-17.90%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Minerva Surgical and NovoCure, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Minerva Surgical	0	0	0	0	N/A
NovoCure	0	4	5	0	2.56

Minerva Surgical currently has a consensus price target of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3,049.76%. NovoCure has a consensus price target of $34.13, suggesting a potential upside of 118.33%. Given Minerva Surgical’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Minerva Surgical is more favorable than NovoCure.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Minerva Surgical and NovoCure’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Minerva Surgical	$50.29 million	0.11	-$34.11 million	($8.21)	-0.08
NovoCure	$509.34 million	3.29	-$207.04 million	($1.95)	-8.02

Minerva Surgical has higher earnings, but lower revenue than NovoCure. NovoCure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Minerva Surgical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

NovoCure beats Minerva Surgical on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Minerva Surgical

Minerva Surgical, Inc., a commercial-stage medical technology company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes minimally invasive solutions to meet the uterine healthcare needs of women in the United States. The company provides Minerva ES Endometrial Ablation System and Genesys HTA Endometrial Ablation System, which are endometrial ablation devices; Symphion Tissue Removal System, a minimally invasive uterine tissue removal system to combine bladeless tissue resection and coagulation, continuous visualization, and intrauterine pressure monitoring; and Resectr Tissue Resection Device, a handheld surgical instrument to enable the hysteroscopic removal and diagnosis of endometrial polyps. Its devices are utilized by obstetrician-gynecologists in various medical treatment settings, including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and physician offices. The company was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

About NovoCure

NovoCure Limited, an oncology company, engages in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of tumor treating fields (TTFields) devices for the treatment of solid tumor cancers in the United States, Germany, Japan, Greater China, and internationally. The company's TTFields devices include Optune Gio and Optune Lua. It also has ongoing clinical trials investigating TTFields in brain metastases, gastric cancer, glioblastoma, liver cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, and ovarian cancer. NovoCure Limited was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Saint Helier, Jersey.