Head-To-Head Comparison: Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) and Cencora (NYSE:COR)

Cencora (NYSE:COR) and Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Cencora and Medpace, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cencora	0	3	9	0	2.75
Medpace	4	10	2	1	2.00

Cencora currently has a consensus price target of $371.09, indicating a potential downside of 0.24%. Medpace has a consensus price target of $487.18, indicating a potential downside of 21.23%. Given Cencora’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cencora is more favorable than Medpace.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.5% of Cencora shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of Medpace shares are held by institutional investors. 10.8% of Cencora shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of Medpace shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cencora and Medpace”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cencora	$638.56 million	112.94	$1.51 billion	$7.95	46.79
Medpace	$2.36 billion	7.39	$404.39 million	$14.30	43.25

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

Profitability

This table compares Cencora and Medpace’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cencora	0.60%	267.36%	4.31%
Medpace	18.36%	91.88%	23.65%

Risk & Volatility

Cencora has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medpace has a beta of 1.42, indicating that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Medpace beats Cencora on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cencora

Cencora, Inc. sources and distributes pharmaceutical products. The company's U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment distributes pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers; provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; packaging solutions to various institutional and retail healthcare providers; clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support services; data analytics, outcomes research, and additional services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers; pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and other products to the companion animal and production animal markets; and sales force services to manufacturers. This segment also distributes plasma and other blood products, injectable pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and other specialty products; and provides other services to physicians who specialize in various disease states, such as oncology, as well as to other healthcare providers, including hospitals and dialysis clinics. Its International Healthcare Solutions segment offers international pharmaceutical wholesale and related service, and global commercialization services; distributes pharmaceuticals, other healthcare products, and related services to pharmacies, doctors, health centers, and hospitals primarily in Europe; and provides specialty transportation and logistics services for the biopharmaceutical industry. The company was formerly known as AmerisourceBergen Corporation and changed its name to Cencora, Inc. in August 2023. Cencora, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

About Medpace

Medpace Holdings, Inc. engages in the provision of outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Its services include medical department, clinical trial management, data-driven feasibility, study-start-up, clinical monitoring, regulatory affairs, patient recruitment and retention, medical writing, biometrics and data sciences, pharmacovigilance, core laboratory, laboratories, clinics, and quality assurance. The company was founded by August James Troendle in 1992 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.