Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR – Get Free Report) and Surmodics (NASDAQ:SRDX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and profitability.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Avinger and Surmodics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Avinger | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Surmodics | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Avinger currently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 244.83%. Surmodics has a consensus price target of $50.00, suggesting a potential upside of 26.01%. Given Avinger’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Avinger is more favorable than Surmodics.
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Avinger | $7.26 million | 0.66 | -$18.32 million | ($11.06) | -0.13 |
| Surmodics | $126.08 million | 4.50 | -$11.54 million | ($0.81) | -48.99 |
Surmodics has higher revenue and earnings than Avinger. Surmodics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Avinger, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk & Volatility
Avinger has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surmodics has a beta of 1.22, meaning that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
18.3% of Avinger shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Surmodics shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.7% of Avinger shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.9% of Surmodics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Avinger and Surmodics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Avinger | -261.06% | -5,527.11% | -123.25% |
| Surmodics | -9.15% | -3.79% | -2.55% |
Summary
Surmodics beats Avinger on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Avinger
Avinger, Inc., a commercial-stage medical device company, designs, manufactures, and sells a suite of image-guided and catheter-based systems used by physicians to treat patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) primarily in the United States and Germany. The company develops lumivascular platform that integrates optical coherence tomography visualization with interventional catheters to provide real-time intravascular imaging during the treatment portion of PAD procedures. Its lumivascular products comprise Lightbox imaging consoles; the Ocelot and Tigereye family of devices, which are designed to allow physicians to penetrate a total blockage in an artery; and Pantheris, an image-guided atherectomy device that allows physicians to precisely remove arterial plaque in PAD patients. The company is also developing IMAGE-BTK for the treatment of PAD lesions below-the-knee. It markets and sells its products to interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Redwood City, California.
About Surmodics
Surmodics, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides performance coating technologies for intravascular medical devices, and chemical and biological components for in vitro diagnostic immunoassay tests and microarrays in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD). The Medical Device segment engages in the provision of surface modification coating technologies to enhance access, deliverability, and predictable deployment of medical devices; and drug-delivery coating technologies to provide site-specific drug-delivery from the surface of a medical device for neurovascular, peripheral, coronary, and structural heart, and other markets, as well as manufacturing of vascular intervention medical devices, including drug-coated balloons, mechanical thrombectomy devices, and radial access balloon catheters and guide sheaths. The IVD segment develops, manufactures, and sells chemical and biological components for in vitro diagnostic immunoassay and molecular tests, as well as diagnostic and biomedical research markets. This segment offers protein stabilizers, substrates, surface coatings, and antigens. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
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