Critical Contrast: Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTCMKTS:BAYRY) vs. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (OTCMKTS:BAYRY) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Pfizer and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pfizer	12.62%	20.33%	8.53%
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft	-7.26%	13.94%	4.09%

Risk and Volatility

Pfizer has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bayer Aktiengesellschaft has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Pfizer pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.7%. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft pays an annual dividend of $0.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Pfizer pays out 124.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft pays out -2.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pfizer has raised its dividend for 16 consecutive years. Pfizer is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pfizer and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pfizer	$63.63 billion	2.29	$8.03 billion	$1.38	18.59
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft	$50.44 billion	0.62	-$2.76 billion	($0.92)	-8.67

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

68.4% of Pfizer shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Pfizer shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Pfizer and Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pfizer	1	13	5	3	2.45
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft	0	1	1	2	3.25

Pfizer currently has a consensus target price of $28.55, indicating a potential upside of 11.31%. Given Pfizer’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Pfizer is more favorable than Bayer Aktiengesellschaft.

Summary

Pfizer beats Bayer Aktiengesellschaft on 15 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. It also provides medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, such as biosimilars for chronic immune and inflammatory diseases under the Xeljanz, Enbrel, Inflectra, Litfulo, Velsipity, and Cibinqo brands; amyloidosis, hemophilia, endocrine diseases, and sickle cell disease under the Vyndaqel family, Oxbryta, BeneFIX, Somavert, Ngenla, and Genotropin brands; sterile injectable and anti-infective medicines under the Sulperazon, Medrol, Zavicefta, Zithromax, and Panzyga brands; and biologics, small molecules, immunotherapies, and biosimilars under the Ibrance, Xtandi, Inlyta, Bosulif, Mektovi, Padcev, Adcetris, Talzenna, Tukysa, Elrexfio, Tivdak, Lorbrena, and Braftovi brands. In addition, the company involved in the contract manufacturing business. It serves wholesalers, retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, pharmacies, individual provider offices, retail pharmacies, and integrated delivery systems. The company has collaboration agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Astellas Pharma US, Inc.; Merck KGaA; and BioNTech SE. Pfizer Inc. was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Bayer Aktiengesellschaft

Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, together its subsidiaries, operates as a life science company worldwide. It operates through Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, and Crop Science segments. The Pharmaceuticals segment offers prescription products primarily for cardiology and women’s health care; specialty therapeutics in the areas of oncology, hematology, and ophthalmology; and diagnostic imaging equipment and digital solutions, and contrast agents, as well as cell and gene therapy. The Consumer Health segment markets nonprescription over-the-counter medicines for self-medication and self-care; and solutions for nutritional supplements, allergy, cough and cold, dermatology, pain and cardiovascular risk prevention, and digestive health. This segment also provides breeding, propagation, and production/processing of seeds, including seed dressing. The company has a collaboration with Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc. to strengthen gene editing programs; Peking University in the area of basic pharmaceutical research; the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in the development of the compound emodepside for the treatment of infection with soil-transmitted helminths; bit.bio Ltd. for the discovery and manufacture of regulatory T cells for use in creating therapeutics; Hologic, Inc. in the field of contrastenhanced-mammography solutions to improve diagnostic imaging for the detection of breast cancer; and Twist Bioscience Corporation centering around the research and development of antibody-based pharmaceuticals, as well as with CrossBay Medical Inc. It distributes its products through wholesalers, pharmacies and pharmacy chains, supermarkets, online and other retailers, and hospitals, as well as directly to farmers. The company has collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific. Bayer Aktiengesellschaft was founded in 1863 and is based in Leverkusen, Germany.