Financial Survey: BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) versus Phibro Animal Health (NASDAQ:PAHC)

Phibro Animal Health (NASDAQ:PAHC) and BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Phibro Animal Health and BioLife Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Phibro Animal Health	4.85%	36.26%	7.52%
BioLife Solutions	-3.20%	0.97%	0.87%

Volatility & Risk

Phibro Animal Health has a beta of 0.79, indicating that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLife Solutions has a beta of 1.93, indicating that its share price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Phibro Animal Health and BioLife Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Phibro Animal Health	2	2	2	1	2.29
BioLife Solutions	1	1	3	0	2.40

Phibro Animal Health currently has a consensus price target of $31.40, indicating a potential downside of 25.15%. BioLife Solutions has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.24%. Given BioLife Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BioLife Solutions is more favorable than Phibro Animal Health.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.3% of Phibro Animal Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 50.1% of Phibro Animal Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Phibro Animal Health and BioLife Solutions”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Phibro Animal Health	$1.30 billion	1.31	$48.26 million	$1.66	25.27
BioLife Solutions	$82.25 million	14.96	-$20.18 million	($0.07)	-365.00

Phibro Animal Health has higher revenue and earnings than BioLife Solutions. BioLife Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phibro Animal Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Phibro Animal Health beats BioLife Solutions on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Phibro Animal Health

Phibro Animal Health Corporation operates as an animal health and mineral nutrition company in the United States, Israel, Brazil, Ireland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Animal Health, Mineral Nutrition, and Performance Products. The company develops, manufactures, and markets various products for food and companion animals including poultry, swine, beef and dairy cattle, aquaculture, and dogs. It also offers animal health products, such as antibacterials, anticoccidials, nutritional specialty, and vaccines and vaccine adjuvants for animal’s health and performance, food safety, and animal welfare; and engages in development, manufacturing, and marketing of microbial and bioproducts for various applications serving animal health and nutrition, environmental, industrial, and agricultural customers. In addition, the company develops, manufactures, and markets conventionally licensed and autogenous vaccine products, as well as adjuvants for animal vaccine manufacturers. Further, it provides formulations and concentrations of trace minerals, such as zinc, manganese, copper, iron, and other compounds to fortify the daily feed requirements of their livestock’s diets and maintain optimal balance of trace elements in animals. Additionally, the company offers specialty ingredients for personal care, industrial chemical, and chemical catalyst industries. It sells its animal health and mineral nutrition products through local sales offices to integrated poultry, swine, and cattle producers, as well as through commercial animal feed manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Philipp Brothers Chemicals, Inc. and changed its name to Phibro Animal Health Corporation in July 2003. Phibro Animal Health Corporation was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets bioproduction tools and services for the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company’s products are used in the basic and applied research, and commercial manufacturing of biologic-based therapies. It offers proprietary biopreservation media products, including HypoThermosol FRS and CryoStor Freeze Media that are formulated to mitigate preservation-induced, delayed-onset cell damage and death; bioproduction tools, such as human platelet lysates for cell expansion and CellSeal closed system vials that are used in CGT; and the ThawSTAR line that comprises of a family of automated thawing devices for frozen cell and gene therapies packaged in cryovials and cryobags. The company also provides cryogenic freezer technology for controlled rate freezing and cryogenic storage of biologic materials; ultra-low temperature mechanical freezers; evo shipping containers that are cloud-connected passive storage and transport containers for temperature-sensitive biologics and pharmaceuticals; liquid nitrogen laboratory freezers, cryogenic equipment, and accessories; and biological and pharmaceutical storage and transport services. It markets and sells its products directly, as well as through third party distributors. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.