Head-To-Head Comparison: Stryker (NYSE:SYK) vs. LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT)

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) and LeMaitre Vascular (NASDAQ:LMAT) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

77.1% of Stryker shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Stryker shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.8% of LeMaitre Vascular shares are held by company 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.

Risk and Volatility

Stryker has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LeMaitre Vascular has a beta of 0.89, indicating that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Stryker and LeMaitre Vascular’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Stryker	16.12%	22.89%	11.03%
LeMaitre Vascular	18.33%	12.63%	10.92%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Stryker and LeMaitre Vascular’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Stryker	$20.50 billion	6.18	$3.17 billion	$8.76	37.96
LeMaitre Vascular	$205.62 million	8.96	$30.10 million	$1.51	54.34

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

Dividends

Stryker pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. LeMaitre Vascular pays an annual dividend of $0.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Stryker pays out 36.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. LeMaitre Vascular pays out 42.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Stryker has increased its dividend for 31 consecutive years and LeMaitre Vascular has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Stryker is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Stryker and LeMaitre Vascular, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Stryker	0	4	15	0	2.79
LeMaitre Vascular	0	1	6	1	3.00

Stryker currently has a consensus price target of $373.11, indicating a potential upside of 12.21%. LeMaitre Vascular has a consensus price target of $86.50, indicating a potential upside of 5.42%. Given Stryker’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Stryker is more favorable than LeMaitre Vascular.

Summary

Stryker beats LeMaitre Vascular on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Stryker

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries. This segment also offers spinal implant products comprising cervical and thoracolumbar systems that include fixation, minimally invasive and interbody systems used in spinal injury, complex spine and degenerative therapies. The MedSurg and Neurotechnology segment offers surgical equipment, and surgical navigation systems, endoscopic and communications systems, patient handling, emergency medical equipment and intensive care disposable products, reprocessed and remanufactured medical devices, clinical communication and workflow solutions, and other medical device products that are used in various medical specialties, as well as patient and caregiver safety technologies. This segment also provides neurosurgical, neurovascular and craniomaxillofacial implant products, which include products used for minimally invasive endovascular procedures; products for brain and open skull based surgical procedures; orthobiologic and biosurgery products, such as synthetic bone grafts and vertebral augmentation products; minimally invasive products for the treatment of acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke; and craniomaxillofacial implant products, including cranial, maxillofacial, and chest wall devices, as well as dural substitutes and sealants. The company sells its products to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities through company-owned subsidiaries and branches, as well as third-party dealers and distributors in approximately 75 countries. Stryker Corporation was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Portage, Michigan.

About LeMaitre Vascular

LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets medical devices and implants used in the field of vascular surgery worldwide. It offers human cadaver tissue cryopreservation services; angioscope, a fiberoptic catheter used for viewing the lumen of a blood vessel; embolectomy catheters to remove blood clots from arteries; thrombectomy catheters for removing thrombi in the venous system; occlusion catheters that temporarily occlude the blood flow; and perfusion catheters to perfuse the blood and other fluids into the vasculature. The company also provides artegraft biologic graft, a bovine carotid artery used for dialysis access; XenoSure biologic patches, used for closure of vessels after surgical intervention; VascuCel and CardioCel biologic patches, used in vessel repair, heart repair and reconstruction, and neonatal repairs; cardiovascular patches; carotid shunts that temporarily shunt the blood to the brain during the removal of plaque in a carotid endarterectomy surgery; biosynthetic vascular graft indicated for lower extremity bypass and dialysis access; and vascular grafts used to bypass or replace diseased arteries. In addition, it offers radiopaque tape, a medical-grade tape applied to the skin that enables surgeons and interventionalists to cross-refer between the inside and the outside of a patient's body and allows them to locate tributaries or lesions beneath the skin. Further, the company provides valvulotomes, which cut or disrupt valves in the saphenous vein to function as an artery to carry blood past diseased arteries to the lower leg or the foot; and closure systems to attach vessels to one another with titanium clips instead of sutures. It markets its products through a direct sales force and distributors. The company was formerly known as Vascutech, Inc. and changed its name to LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. in April 2001. LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts.