Analyzing Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) and Lucid Diagnostics (NASDAQ:LUCD)

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) and Lucid Diagnostics (NASDAQ:LUCD) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Embecta and Lucid Diagnostics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Embecta	0	1	1	0	2.50
Lucid Diagnostics	0	0	4	1	3.20

Embecta currently has a consensus target price of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 80.39%. Lucid Diagnostics has a consensus target price of $3.63, indicating a potential upside of 160.79%. Given Lucid Diagnostics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Lucid Diagnostics is more favorable than Embecta.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.8% of Embecta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.0% of Lucid Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Embecta shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Lucid Diagnostics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Embecta has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lucid Diagnostics has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Embecta and Lucid Diagnostics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Embecta	5.25%	-19.22%	11.92%
Lucid Diagnostics	-1,069.87%	N/A	-123.54%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Embecta and Lucid Diagnostics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Embecta	$1.11 billion	0.67	$78.30 million	$1.00	12.75
Lucid Diagnostics	$4.19 million	19.69	-$52.67 million	($1.14)	-1.22

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

Summary

Lucid Diagnostics beats Embecta on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Embecta

Embecta Corp., a medical device company, focuses on the provision of various solutions to enhance the health and wellbeing of people living with diabetes. Its products include pen needles, syringes, and safety injection devices, as well as digital applications to assist people with managing patient's diabetes. The company primarily sells its products to wholesalers and distributors in the United States and internationally. Embecta Corp. was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

About Lucid Diagnostics

Lucid Diagnostics Inc. operates as a commercial-stage medical diagnostics technology company in the United States. The company focuses on patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) who are at risk of developing esophageal precancer and cancer, primarily highly lethal esophageal adenocarcinoma. Its flagship product, the EsoGuard Esophageal DNA Test performed on samples collected with the EsoCheck Esophageal Cell collection device, a testing tool with the goal of preventing EAC deaths through early detection of esophageal precancer in at-risk GERD patients. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is based in New York, New York. Lucid Diagnostics Inc. is a subsidiary of PAVmed Inc.