Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) & bioMerieux (OTCMKTS:BMXMF) Financial Review

bioMerieux (OTCMKTS:BMXMF) and Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.1% of Bausch + Lomb shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Bausch + Lomb 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares bioMerieux and Bausch + Lomb”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
bioMerieux	$4.31 billion	3.55	$467.68 million	N/A	N/A
Bausch + Lomb	$4.79 billion	1.24	-$317.00 million	($0.87)	-19.24

bioMerieux has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Bausch + Lomb.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for bioMerieux and Bausch + Lomb, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
bioMerieux	0	1	0	0	2.00
Bausch + Lomb	2	8	5	0	2.20

Bausch + Lomb has a consensus target price of $17.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1.55%. Given Bausch + Lomb’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Bausch + Lomb is more favorable than bioMerieux.

Risk & Volatility

bioMerieux has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bausch + Lomb has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares bioMerieux and Bausch + Lomb’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
bioMerieux	N/A	N/A	N/A
Bausch + Lomb	-6.13%	2.42%	1.15%

Summary

Bausch + Lomb beats bioMerieux on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About bioMerieux

bioMérieux S.A. develops and produces in vitro diagnostic solutions for the diagnosis of infectious diseases in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers systems that use biological samples, such as blood, saliva, urine, etc. for the diagnosis of infectious diseases, including bacterial infections, parasitic infections, and viral infections; and microbiological control of production or the production environment primarily for food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. It also provides a suite of software products and services that collect, analyze, and merge various sources of data to make decisions under the BIOMÉRIEUX VISION SUITE name; designs, manufactures, and maintains instruments and software; and designs and manufactures reagents for in vitro diagnostic tests. The company serves clinical and hospital laboratories, physicians, blood banks, vets, and industrial control laboratories. bioMérieux S.A. was formerly known as B-D Mérieux. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Marcy-l'Étoile, France. bioMérieux S.A. is a subsidiary of Institut Mérieux SA.

About Bausch + Lomb

Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as an eye health company in the United States, Puerto Rico, China, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, South Korea, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Vision Care, Pharmaceuticals, and Surgical. The Vision Care segment provides contact lens that covers the spectrum of wearing modalities, including daily disposable and frequently replaced contact lenses; and contact lens care products comprising over-the-counter eye drops, eye vitamins, and mineral supplements that address various conditions, such as eye allergies, conjunctivitis, dry eye, and redness relief. Its Pharmaceuticals segment offers proprietary and generic pharmaceutical products for post-operative treatments, as well as for the treatment of glaucoma, eye inflammation, ocular hypertension, dry eyes, and retinal diseases. The Surgical segment provides medical device equipment, consumables, and technologies for the treatment of cataracts, corneal, vitreous, and retinal eye conditions; and intraocular lenses and delivery systems, phacoemulsification equipment, and other surgical instruments and devices for cataract surgery. The company sells its products and services through direct sales forces and independent distributors. Bausch + Lomb Corporation was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Vaughan, Canada. Bausch + Lomb Corporation is a subsidiary of Bausch Health Companies Inc.