Cytosorbents (NASDAQ:CTSO) vs. Atrion (NASDAQ:ATRI) Head-To-Head Analysis

Atrion (NASDAQ:ATRI) and Cytosorbents (NASDAQ:CTSO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Atrion has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cytosorbents has a beta of 0.57, indicating that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.2% of Atrion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.9% of Cytosorbents shares are held by institutional investors. 22.8% of Atrion shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.6% of Cytosorbents shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Atrion and Cytosorbents’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atrion	$176.67 million	4.56	$19.41 million	$10.64	43.01
Cytosorbents	$36.35 million	1.54	-$28.51 million	($0.59)	-1.75

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Atrion and Cytosorbents, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atrion	0	0	0	0	N/A
Cytosorbents	0	1	1	0	2.50

Cytosorbents has a consensus price target of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 94.17%. Given Cytosorbents’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cytosorbents is more favorable than Atrion.

Profitability

This table compares Atrion and Cytosorbents’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atrion	10.60%	7.75%	7.12%
Cytosorbents	-75.07%	-129.89%	-54.98%

Summary

Atrion beats Cytosorbents on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atrion

Atrion Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells products for fluid delivery, cardiovascular, and ophthalmic applications in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company's fluid delivery products include valves that fill, hold, and release controlled amounts of fluids or gasses for use in various intubation, intravenous, catheter, and other applications in the anesthesia and oncology fields, as well as promote infection control in hospital and home healthcare environments. Its cardiovascular products comprise Myocardial Protection System that delivers fluids and medications, and mixes critical drugs, as well as controls temperature, pressure, and other variables; cardiac surgery vacuum relief valves; silicone vessel loops for retracting and occluding vessels; and inflation devices for balloon catheter dilation, stent deployment, and fluid dispensing, as well as products for use in heart bypass surgery. The company's ophthalmic products consist of a line of balloon catheters, which are used for the treatment of nasolacrimal duct obstruction in children and adults. It manufactures products for safe needle and scalpel blade containment; inflation systems and valves used in marine and aviation safety products; components used in inflatable survival products and structures; and one-way and two-way pressure relief valves that protect sensitive electronics and other products during transport in other medical and non-medical applications. The company sells its products to physicians, hospitals, clinics, and other treatment centers; and other equipment manufacturers through direct sales force, independent sales representatives, and distributors. Atrion Corporation was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Allen, Texas.

About Cytosorbents

Cytosorbents Corporation engages in the research, development, and commercialization of medical devices with its blood purification technology platform incorporating a proprietary adsorbent and porous polymer technology in the United States, Germany, and internationally. Its flagship product is CytoSorb, an extracorporeal cytokine adsorber for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of sepsis, adjunctive therapy in other critical care applications, prevention, and treatment of perioperative complications, and maintaining or enhancing the quality of solid organs harvested from donors for organ transplant; and offers VetResQ, a device for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of sepsis, pancreatitis, and other critical illnesses in animals. The company also develops CytoSorb-XL, a device for adjunctive therapy in the treatment of sepsis and other critical illnesses; HemoDefend blood purification technology platform to reduce contaminants in the blood supply that can cause transfusion reactions or disease when administering blood and blood products to patients, and removal of anti-A and anti-B blood group antibodies from whole blood and plasma; K+ontrol for treatment of severe hyperkalemia in patients with life-threatening conditions; and ContrastSorb for the removal of IV contrast in blood administered during CT imaging, an angiogram, or during a vascular interventional radiology procedure to reduce the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy. In addition, it develops BetaSorb, a device for the prevention and treatment of health complications caused by the accumulation of metabolic toxins in patients with chronic renal failure; DrugSorb, a device to remove drugs and chemicals from the blood; and DrugSorb-ATR, an antithrombotic removal system. The company was formerly known as MedaSorb Technologies Corporation and changed its name to Cytosorbents Corporation in May 2010. Cytosorbents Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.