Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) and Vireo Growth (OTCMKTS:VREOD) Critical Analysis

Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN) and Vireo Growth (OTCMKTS:VREOD) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.5% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Elanco Animal Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Vireo Growth shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Elanco Animal Health has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vireo Growth has a beta of 1.78, suggesting that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Elanco Animal Health and Vireo Growth’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Elanco Animal Health	-3.96%	8.13%	3.99%
Vireo Growth	-23.37%	-19.76%	-7.15%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Elanco Animal Health and Vireo Growth”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Elanco Animal Health	$5.02 billion	2.24	-$232.00 million	($0.41)	-54.87
Vireo Growth	$268.77 million	1.68	-$68.11 million	($3.30)	-3.02

Vireo Growth has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Elanco Animal Health. Elanco Animal Health is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vireo Growth, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Elanco Animal Health and Vireo Growth, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Elanco Animal Health	1	2	8	1	2.75
Vireo Growth	1	0	0	0	1.00

Elanco Animal Health currently has a consensus target price of $29.70, indicating a potential upside of 32.03%. Given Elanco Animal Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Elanco Animal Health is more favorable than Vireo Growth.

Summary

Elanco Animal Health beats Vireo Growth on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health Incorporated, an animal health company, innovates, develops, manufactures, and markets products for pets and farm animals. It offers pet health disease prevention products, such as parasiticide and vaccine products that protect pets from worms, fleas, and ticks under the Seresto, Advantage, Advantix, and Advocate brands; pet health therapeutics for pain, osteoarthritis, ear infections, cardiovascular, and dermatology indications in canines and felines under the Galliprant and Claro brands; vaccines, antibiotics, parasiticides, and other products for use in poultry and aquaculture production, as well as nutritional health products, including enzymes, probiotics, and prebiotics; and a range of vaccines, antibiotics, implants, parasiticides, and other products used in ruminant and swine production under the Rumensin and Baytril brands. The company sells its products to third-party distributors; veterinarians; and farm animal producers, including beef and dairy farmers, as well as pork, poultry, and aquaculture operations. Elanco Animal Health Incorporated was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana.

About Vireo Growth

Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. operates as a cannabis company in the United States. The company cultivates, processes, and distributes medical and adult-use cannabis products. It sells cannabis products through its network of Green Goods and other Goodness Growth branded retail dispensaries and third-party dispensaries in Maryland, Minnesota, and New York. The company was formerly known as Vireo Health International Inc. and changed its name to Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. in June 2021. Goodness Growth Holdings, Inc. is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.