Head-To-Head Review: Precision Optics (NASDAQ:POCI) versus Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT)

Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT) and Precision Optics (NASDAQ:POCI) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Vicarious Surgical has a beta of 1.54, meaning that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Precision Optics has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

47.3% of Vicarious Surgical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.7% of Precision Optics shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.0% of Vicarious Surgical shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.4% of Precision Optics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vicarious Surgical and Precision Optics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vicarious Surgical	N/A	-184.13%	-112.50%
Precision Optics	-28.33%	-57.08%	-33.58%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Vicarious Surgical and Precision Optics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vicarious Surgical	1	2	0	0	1.67
Precision Optics	1	0	0	0	1.00

Vicarious Surgical currently has a consensus target price of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 264.77%. Given Vicarious Surgical’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Vicarious Surgical is more favorable than Precision Optics.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vicarious Surgical and Precision Optics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vicarious Surgical	N/A	N/A	-$63.22 million	($9.05)	-0.21
Precision Optics	$19.09 million	1.87	-$5.78 million	($0.84)	-5.51

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

About Vicarious Surgical

Vicarious Surgical Inc. operates as a robotics technology company in the United States. The company focuses on developing and commercializing Vicarious System, a single-incision surgical robot that virtually transports surgeons inside the patient to perform minimally invasive surgery. Vicarious Surgical Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Precision Optics

Precision Optics Corporation, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells specialized optical and illumination systems and related components primarily in the United States and the European Economic Area. It offers medical instrumentation products, including endoscopes and endocouplers, as well as other custom imaging and illumination products, such as Microprecision lenses and micro medical cameras, and 3D endoscopes for use in minimally invasive surgical procedures by hospitals and physicians. The company also provides components and assemblies for industrial and military use. It markets its products to medical device companies. The company was incorporated in 1982 and is based in Gardner, Massachusetts.