Head-To-Head Survey: Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) & Ekso Bionics (NASDAQ:EKSO)

Pacific Biosciences of California (NASDAQ:PACB) and Ekso Bionics (NASDAQ:EKSO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Pacific Biosciences of California has a beta of 2.1, indicating that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ekso Bionics has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

6.4% of Ekso Bionics shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.5% of Pacific Biosciences of California shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Ekso Bionics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Pacific Biosciences of California and Ekso Bionics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pacific Biosciences of California	0	4	3	0	2.43
Ekso Bionics	0	0	2	0	3.00

Pacific Biosciences of California presently has a consensus target price of $1.90, indicating a potential upside of 32.87%. Ekso Bionics has a consensus target price of $562.50, indicating a potential upside of 10,473.31%. Given Ekso Bionics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ekso Bionics is more favorable than Pacific Biosciences of California.

Profitability

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and Ekso Bionics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pacific Biosciences of California	-336.40%	-66.75%	-16.90%
Ekso Bionics	-75.66%	-86.60%	-41.70%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pacific Biosciences of California and Ekso Bionics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pacific Biosciences of California	$154.01 million	2.79	-$309.85 million	($2.29)	-0.62
Ekso Bionics	$17.92 million	0.77	-$11.33 million	($6.64)	-0.80

Ekso Bionics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Pacific Biosciences of California. Ekso Bionics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pacific Biosciences of California, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Pacific Biosciences of California beats Ekso Bionics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pacific Biosciences of California

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. designs, develops, and manufactures sequencing solution to resolve genetically complex problems. The company provides sequencing systems; consumable products, including single molecule real-time (SMRT) technology; long-red sequencing; and various reagent kits designed for specific workflow, such as preparation kit to convert DNA into SMRTbell double-stranded DNA library formats, including molecular biology reagents, such as ligase, buffers, and exonucleases. It also offers binding kits, such as modified DNA polymerase used to bind SMRTbell libraries to the polymerase in preparation for sequencing; and sequencing kits comprise reagents required for on-instrument, real-time sequencing, including the phospholinked nucleotides. In addition, it provides revio system + sequel systems which conduct, monitor, and analyze single-molecule biochemical reactions in real time; SBB short-read sequencing; onso instrument conducts, monitors, and analyzes SBB biochemical reactions; and SBB consumable, including flow cells, clustering, and sequencing reagent kits. The company serves academic and governmental research institutions; commercial testing and service laboratories; genome centers; public health labs, hospitals and clinical research institutes, and contract research organizations; pharmaceutical companies; and agricultural companies. It markets its products through a sales force and distribution partners in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. It has a development and commercialization agreement with Invitae Corporation; and a collaboration with Radboud University Medical to explore genetic causes of rare and genetic diseases. The company was formerly known as Nanofluidics, Inc. and changed its name to Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. in 2005. Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

About Ekso Bionics

Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. designs, develops, sells, and rents exoskeleton products in the Americas, Germany, Poland, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It operates in two segments, EksoHealth and EksoWorks. The EksoHealth segment designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets exoskeletons for applications in the medical markets. The EksoWorks segment designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets exoskeleton devices to allow able-bodied users to perform difficult repetitive work for extended periods. The company provides EksoNR, a wearable bionic suit and rehabilitation device that assists physical therapists and physicians to treat patients with acquired brain injury, stroke, and spinal cord injury; Ekso Indego Therapy, an adjustable and lower-limb powered exoskeleton; Ekso Indego Personal, a powered lower limb orthosis; Ekso Nomad, a power knee ankle foot orthosis; and Ekso EV, a wearable upper body exoskeleton that elevates and supports a worker's arms to assist with tasks from chest height to overhead. Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in San Rafael, California.