Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Competitors

Novartis (NYSE:NVS) and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, NVS or ABT?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Novartis	$45.44B	4.48	$14.85B	$7.41	13.44
Abbott Laboratories	$40.11B	4.55	$5.72B	$3.21	32.69

Which has more risk and volatility, NVS or ABT?

Novartis has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in NVS or ABT?

13.1% of Novartis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Novartis shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is NVS or ABT more profitable?

Novartis has a net margin of 31.33% compared to Novartis' net margin of 13.96%. Abbott Laboratories' return on equity of 32.15% beat Novartis' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novartis	31.33%	32.15%	13.59%
Abbott Laboratories	13.96%	20.18%	10.60%

Is NVS or ABT a better dividend stock?

Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Novartis pays out 32.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Abbott Laboratories pays out 68.5% 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. Novartis has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years. Novartis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts rate NVS or ABT?

Novartis presently has a consensus price target of $115.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.44%. Abbott Laboratories has a consensus price target of $121.50, indicating a potential upside of 15.78%. Given Novartis' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Abbott Laboratories is more favorable than Novartis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novartis	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Abbott Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media refer more to NVS or ABT?

In the previous week, Abbott Laboratories had 3 more articles in the media than Novartis. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Abbott Laboratories and 12 mentions for Novartis. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Abbott Laboratories' score of 0.68 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Novartis	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Abbott Laboratories	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NVS or ABT?

Abbott Laboratories received 391 more outperform votes than Novartis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.60% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 61.42% of users gave Novartis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Novartis	Outperform Votes 527 61.42%	Underperform Votes 331 38.58%
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 918 69.60%	Underperform Votes 401 30.40%

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Novartis on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.