Reviewing CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and iSpecimen (NASDAQ:ISPC)

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and iSpecimen (NASDAQ:ISPC) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CVS Health and iSpecimen, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CVS Health	0	4	21	2	2.93
iSpecimen	1	0	0	0	1.00

CVS Health presently has a consensus price target of $89.45, suggesting a potential upside of 11.21%. Given CVS Health’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CVS Health is more favorable than iSpecimen.

Profitability

This table compares CVS Health and iSpecimen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CVS Health	0.12%	11.45%	3.40%
iSpecimen	-172.48%	-395.15%	-121.72%

Risk and Volatility

CVS Health has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, iSpecimen has a beta of 1.76, indicating that its stock price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

80.7% of CVS Health shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.6% of iSpecimen shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.2% of CVS Health shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of iSpecimen shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CVS Health and iSpecimen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CVS Health	$394.08 billion	0.26	$4.61 billion	$0.38	211.68
iSpecimen	$9.29 million	0.67	-$12.50 million	($9.51)	-0.07

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

Summary

CVS Health beats iSpecimen on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CVS Health

CVS Health Corporation provides health solutions in the United States. It operates through Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. The Health Services segment offers pharmacy benefit management solutions, including plan design and administration, formulary management, retail pharmacy network management, specialty and mail order pharmacy, clinical, disease management, and medical spend management services. It serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, health plans, prescription drug plans, Medicaid managed care plans, CMS, plans offered on public health insurance, and other sponsors of health benefit plans. The Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segment sells prescription and over-the-counter drugs, consumer health and beauty products, and personal care products. This segment also distributes prescription drugs; and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services to care facilities and other care settings. It operates online retail pharmacy websites, LTC pharmacies and on-site pharmacies, retail specialty pharmacy stores, compounding pharmacies and branches for infusion and enteral nutrition services. The company was formerly known as CVS Caremark Corporation and changed its name to CVS Health Corporation in September 2014. CVS Health Corporation was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

About iSpecimen

iSpecimen Inc. provides technology that connects life science researchers who need human biofluids, tissues, and living cells for their research with biospecimens available in healthcare provider organizations worldwide. Its cloud-based technology enables scientists to search for specimens and patients across a network of hospitals, clinics, private practice groups, laboratories, blood centers, biobanks, clinical research sites, and cadaveric donation centers. The company develops and operates iSpecimen Marketplace, a proprietary online marketplace platform that connects medical researchers who need access to subjects, samples, and data with hospitals, laboratories, and other organizations who have access to them. It serves biopharmaceutical companies, in vitro diagnostic companies, and government/academic institutions. iSpecimen Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.