Contrasting Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) & Auna (NYSE:AUNA)

Auna (NYSE:AUNA) and Co-Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CODX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Auna and Co-Diagnostics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Auna	1	4	0	0	1.80
Co-Diagnostics	1	2	1	1	2.40

Auna currently has a consensus target price of $6.95, indicating a potential upside of 45.86%. Co-Diagnostics has a consensus target price of $55.00, indicating a potential upside of 889.21%. Given Co-Diagnostics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Co-Diagnostics is more favorable than Auna.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

15.0% of Co-Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Co-Diagnostics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Auna and Co-Diagnostics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Auna	$1.17 billion	0.30	$29.39 million	$0.71	6.71
Co-Diagnostics	$507,892.00	666.61	-$37.64 million	($0.99)	-5.62

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

Risk & Volatility

Auna has a beta of 2.26, indicating that its share price is 126% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Co-Diagnostics has a beta of 1.15, indicating that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Auna and Co-Diagnostics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Auna	4.40%	13.52%	3.27%
Co-Diagnostics	-6,347.34%	-70.26%	-61.19%

Summary

Auna beats Co-Diagnostics on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Auna

Auna S.A., a healthcare service provider, operates hospitals and clinics in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia. The company provides prepaid healthcare plans in Peru; and dental and vision plans in Mexico. The company was founded in 1989 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

About Co-Diagnostics

Co-Diagnostics, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company, develops, manufactures, and sells reagents used for diagnostic tests that function through the detection and/or analysis of nucleic acid molecules in the United States and internationally. The company offers Co-Dx PCR platform, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to patients in point-of-care and at-home setting. It also provides PCR diagnostic tests for COVID-19, influenza, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and C, human papillomavirus, malaria, chikungunya, dengue, and the zika virus. In addition, the company offers three multiplexed tests to test mosquitos for the identification of diseases carried by the mosquitos; molecular tools for detection of infectious diseases, liquid biopsy for cancer screening, and agricultural applications; tests that identify genetic traits in plant and animal genomes; and portable diagnostic device designed to bring PCR to patients in point-of-care and at-home settings. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.