Danaher (NYSE:DHR) versus GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS) Critical Comparison

GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS) and Danaher (NYSE:DHR) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

61.7% of GeneDx shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Danaher shares are held by institutional investors. 29.6% of GeneDx shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of Danaher shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GeneDx and Danaher”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GeneDx	$305.45 million	13.87	-$52.29 million	$0.09	1,628.33
Danaher	$24.27 billion	6.62	$3.90 billion	$4.85	46.88

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

Profitability

This table compares GeneDx and Danaher’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GeneDx	0.52%	20.22%	11.89%
Danaher	14.44%	10.92%	6.99%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for GeneDx and Danaher, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GeneDx	1	3	7	0	2.55
Danaher	0	5	18	0	2.78

GeneDx presently has a consensus target price of $129.22, suggesting a potential downside of 11.82%. Danaher has a consensus target price of $243.39, suggesting a potential upside of 7.06%. Given Danaher’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Danaher is more favorable than GeneDx.

Risk and Volatility

GeneDx has a beta of 2.01, indicating that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Danaher has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Danaher beats GeneDx on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GeneDx

GeneDx Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides genomics-related diagnostic and information services. The company offers Centrellis, an AI-driven health intelligence platform that integrates digital tools and artificial intelligence allowing scientists to ingest and synthesize clinical and genomic data to deliver comprehensive health insights. It provides genetic diagnostic tests, screening solutions, and information with a focus on pediatrics, rare diseases for children and adults, and hereditary cancer screening. GeneDx Holdings Corp. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Danaher

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services that advance, accelerate, and integrate the development and manufacture of therapeutics; cell line and cell culture media development services; cell culture media, process liquids and buffers for manufacturing, chromatography resins, filtration technologies, aseptic fill finish; single-use hardware and consumables and services, such as the design and installation of full manufacturing suites; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes, and services; and healthcare filtration solutions. The Life Sciences segment provides mass spectrometers; flow cytometry, genomics, lab automation, centrifugation, liquid handling automation instruments, antibodies and reagents, and particle counting and characterization; microscopes; protein consumables; industrial filtration products; and genomic medicines, such as custom nucleic acid products, plasmid DNA, RNA, and proteins under the ABCAM, ALDEVRON, BECKMAN COULTER, IDT, LEICA MICROSYSTEMS, MOLECULAR DEVICES, PALL, PHENOMENEX and SCIEX brands. The Diagnostics segment offers chemistry, immunoassay, microbiology, and automation systems; and molecular, acute care, and pathology diagnostics products. This segment also provides clinical instruments, reagents, consumables, software, and services for hospitals, physicians' offices, reference laboratories, and other critical care settings. The company was formerly known as Diversified Mortgage Investors, Inc. and changed its name to Danaher Corporation in 1984. Danaher Corporation was founded in 1969 and is based in Washington, the District of Columbia.