Comparing SeaStar Medical (NASDAQ:ICU) & Auna (NYSE:AUNA)

SeaStar Medical (NASDAQ:ICU) and Auna (NYSE:AUNA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for SeaStar Medical and Auna, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SeaStar Medical	1	0	0	0	1.00
Auna	1	1	1	2	2.80

SeaStar Medical presently has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 65.75%. Auna has a consensus price target of $7.30, indicating a potential upside of 38.10%. Given SeaStar Medical’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe SeaStar Medical is more favorable than Auna.

Risk and Volatility

SeaStar Medical has a beta of -1.04, indicating that its stock price is 204% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Auna has a beta of 2.09, indicating that its stock price is 109% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SeaStar Medical and Auna”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SeaStar Medical	$1.23 million	11.74	-$12.15 million	($8.30)	-0.44
Auna	$4.39 billion	0.09	$27.39 million	$0.36	14.68

Auna has higher revenue and earnings than SeaStar Medical. SeaStar Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Auna, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares SeaStar Medical and Auna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SeaStar Medical	-984.60%	-188.47%	-106.42%
Auna	2.13%	19.23%	4.70%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

1.7% of SeaStar Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of SeaStar Medical shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Auna beats SeaStar Medical on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SeaStar Medical

SeaStar Medical Holding Corporation, a medical device company, develops a platform therapy to reduce the consequences of hyperinflammation on vital organs in the United States. The company offers inflammatory response to fend off infections and repair damaged tissue in the body. It is also developing products in various therapeutic areas, including pediatric and adult acute kidney injury on CRRT; cardiorenal syndrome in congestive heart failure; myocardial stunning in end stage renal disease; and hepatorenal syndrome. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About Auna

Auna S.A., a healthcare service provider, operates hospitals and clinics in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The company provides prepaid healthcare plans in Peru; and dental and vision plans in Mexico. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.