ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI – Get Free Report) and LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Risk and Volatility
ICU Medical has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LeMaitre Vascular has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for ICU Medical and LeMaitre Vascular, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| ICU Medical | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.00 |
| LeMaitre Vascular | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
96.1% of ICU Medical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of ICU Medical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held 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.
Profitability
This table compares ICU Medical and LeMaitre Vascular’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| ICU Medical | -1.56% | 7.24% | 3.50% |
| LeMaitre Vascular | 20.08% | 13.67% | 9.14% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares ICU Medical and LeMaitre Vascular”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| ICU Medical | $2.38 billion | 1.17 | -$117.69 million | ($3.83) | -29.46 |
| LeMaitre Vascular | $219.86 million | 9.50 | $44.04 million | $2.06 | 44.80 |
LeMaitre Vascular has lower revenue, but higher earnings than ICU Medical. ICU Medical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than LeMaitre Vascular, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
LeMaitre Vascular beats ICU Medical on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About ICU Medical
ICU Medical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices used in infusion therapy, vascular access, and vital care applications worldwide. Its infusion therapy products include needlefree products under the MicroClave, MicroClave Clear, and NanoClave brands; Neutron catheter patency devices; ChemoClave and ChemoLock closed system transfer devices, which are used to limit the escape of hazardous drugs or vapor concentrations, block the transfer of environmental contaminants into the system, and eliminates the risk of needlestick injury; Tego needle free connectors; Deltec GRIPPER non-coring needles for portal access; and ClearGuard, SwabCap, and SwabTip disinfection caps. The company provides IV therapy and diluents, such as sodium chloride, dextrose, balanced electrolyte solutions, lactated ringer's, ringer's, mannitol, sodium chloride/dextrose, and sterile water; and irrigation solutions comprising sodium chloride and sterile water irrigation, physiologic solutions, ringer's irrigation, acetic acid irrigation, glycine irrigation, sorbitol-mannitol irrigation, flexible containers, and pour bottle options. It offers infusion pumps under the Plum 360 and Plum Duo brands; ambulatory and syringe infusion hardware products; IV mediation safety software, including ICU Medical MedNet, an enterprise-class medication management platform; LifeShield and PharmGuard medication infusion safety software; hemodynamic monitoring products; anesthesia systems and devices, breathing circuits, ventilation, respiratory, and specialty airway products; temperature management solutions; anesthesia/pain management trays and components; and professional services. The company's customers include acute care hospitals, wholesalers, ambulatory clinics, and alternate site facilities, including outpatient clinics, home health care providers, and long-term care facilities. ICU Medical, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in San Clemente, California.
About LeMaitre Vascular
LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices and implants used in the field of vascular surgery worldwide. It offers human cadaver tissue cryopreservation services; angioscope, a fiberoptic catheter used for viewing the lumen of a blood vessel; embolectomy catheters to remove blood clots from arteries; thrombectomy catheters for removing thrombi in the venous system; occlusion catheters that temporarily occlude the blood flow; and perfusion catheters to perfuse the blood and other fluids into the vasculature. The company also provides artegraft biologic graft, a bovine carotid artery used for dialysis access; XenoSure biologic patches, used for closure of vessels after surgical intervention; VascuCel and CardioCel biologic patches, used in vessel repair, heart repair and reconstruction, and neonatal repairs; cardiovascular patches; carotid shunts that temporarily shunt the blood to the brain during the removal of plaque in a carotid endarterectomy surgery; biosynthetic vascular graft indicated for lower extremity bypass and dialysis access; and vascular grafts used to bypass or replace diseased arteries. In addition, it offers radiopaque tape, a medical-grade tape applied to the skin that enables surgeons and interventionalists to cross-refer between the inside and the outside of a patient’s body and allows them to locate tributaries or lesions beneath the skin. Further, the company provides valvulotomes, which cut or disrupt valves in the saphenous vein to function as an artery to carry blood past diseased arteries to the lower leg or the foot; and closure systems to attach vessels to one another with titanium clips instead of sutures. It markets its products through a direct sales force and distributors. The company was formerly known as Vascutech, Inc. and changed its name to LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. in April 2001. LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.
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