UFP Technologies (NASDAQ:UFPT) and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) Head to Head Review

UFP Technologies (NASDAQ:UFPT) and Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UFP Technologies and Edwards Lifesciences”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UFP Technologies	$631.64 million	3.41	$68.31 million	$9.28	29.95
Edwards Lifesciences	$6.07 billion	8.02	$1.07 billion	$1.74	48.59

Edwards Lifesciences has higher revenue and earnings than UFP Technologies. UFP Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Edwards Lifesciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

UFP Technologies has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edwards Lifesciences has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.3% of UFP Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of UFP Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Edwards Lifesciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares UFP Technologies and Edwards Lifesciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UFP Technologies	11.45%	18.42%	11.96%
Edwards Lifesciences	15.43%	15.68%	12.05%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for UFP Technologies and Edwards Lifesciences, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UFP Technologies	0	2	0	0	2.00
Edwards Lifesciences	0	6	17	0	2.74

Edwards Lifesciences has a consensus target price of $100.27, suggesting a potential upside of 18.61%. Given Edwards Lifesciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Edwards Lifesciences is more favorable than UFP Technologies.

Summary

Edwards Lifesciences beats UFP Technologies on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UFP Technologies

UFP Technologies, Inc. designs and manufactures solutions for medical devices, sterile packaging, and other highly engineered custom products. The company offers protective drapes for robotic surgery, single patient use surfaces, advanced wound care, infection prevention, disposables for surgical and endoscopic procedures, packaging for medical devices, orthopedic implants, biopharma drug manufacturing, and coils for catheters; and molded components for applications in acoustic insulation, interior trim, load floors, sunshades, SUV cargo cover handles, driveshaft damping, engine and manifold covers, quarter panels, and wheel liners. It also provides molded composites for commercial aviation and military gear for use in backpack components, knee and elbow pads, eyewear, and helmets; and reusable cases and custom for applications in military ballistics panels, virtual training systems, drones, communications equipment, and rugged portable computers. In addition, the company provides engineered products and components to customers in the automotive, aerospace and defense, and industrial markets for applications in military uniform and gear components, automotive interior trim, air filtration, and protective cases and inserts. It markets and sells its products through a direct sales force. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of aortic heart valves under the Edwards SAPIEN family of valves system; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases under the PASCAL PRECISION and Cardioband names. The company also provides surgical structural heart solutions, such as aortic surgical valve under the INSPIRIS name; INSPIRIS RESILLA aortic valve, which offers RESILIA tissue and VFit technology; KONECT RESILIA, a pre-assembled tissue valves conduit for complex combined procedures; and MITRIS RESILIA valve. In addition, it offers critical care solutions, including hemodynamic monitoring systems to measure a patient’s heart function and fluid status in surgical and intensive care settings under the FloTrac, Acumen IQ sensors, ClearSight, Acumen IQ cuffs, and ForeSight names; HemoSphere, a monitoring platform that displays physiological information; and Acumen Hypotension Prediction Index software that alerts clinicians in advance of a patient developing dangerously low blood pressure. The company distributes its products through a direct sales force and independent distributors. Edwards Lifesciences Corporation was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.