Comparing Senestech (NASDAQ:SNES) and Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI)

Owens & Minor (NYSE:OMI) and Senestech (NASDAQ:SNES) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and profitability.

Volatility & Risk

Owens & Minor has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Senestech has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Owens & Minor and Senestech, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Owens & Minor	4	0	3	1	2.13
Senestech	1	1	0	1	2.33

Owens & Minor presently has a consensus price target of $6.35, suggesting a potential upside of 124.78%. Given Owens & Minor’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Owens & Minor is more favorable than Senestech.

Profitability

This table compares Owens & Minor and Senestech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Owens & Minor	-19.99%	95.57%	2.30%
Senestech	-253.54%	-98.35%	-73.17%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.0% of Owens & Minor shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 5.2% of Senestech shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Owens & Minor shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Senestech shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Owens & Minor and Senestech”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Owens & Minor	$10.70 billion	0.02	-$362.69 million	($17.40)	-0.16
Senestech	$1.86 million	6.54	-$6.18 million	($3.65)	-0.64

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

Summary

Owens & Minor beats Senestech on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Owens & Minor

Owens & Minor, Inc. is a healthcare solutions company, which engages in the product manufacturing and delivery, home health supply, and perioperative services to support care through the hospital and into the home. It operates through the Products and Healthcare Services, and Patient Direct segments. The Products and Healthcare Services segment includes medical distribution, the outsourced logistics and value-added services business, and global products, which manufacture and source medical surgical products through the production and kitting operations. The Patient Direct segment includes the home healthcare business, Byram and Apria. The company was founded by Otho O. Owens and G. Gilmer Minor in 1882 and is headquartered in Henrico County, VA.

About Senestech

SenesTech, Inc. develops a technology for managing animal pest populations through fertility control. It offers ContraPest, a liquid bait that limits reproduction of male and female rats. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.