Reviewing Vivani Medical (NASDAQ:VANI) and BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS)

Vivani Medical (NASDAQ:VANI) and BioLife Solutions (NASDAQ:BLFS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vivani Medical and BioLife Solutions”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vivani Medical	N/A	N/A	-$25.65 million	($0.45)	-2.52
BioLife Solutions	$143.27 million	8.63	-$66.43 million	($1.06)	-25.15

Vivani Medical has higher earnings, but lower revenue than BioLife Solutions. BioLife Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vivani Medical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.8% of Vivani Medical shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 44.3% of Vivani Medical shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of BioLife Solutions shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Vivani Medical and BioLife Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vivani Medical	0	0	1	0	3.00
BioLife Solutions	0	0	7	0	3.00

Vivani Medical currently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 164.32%. BioLife Solutions has a consensus target price of $29.43, suggesting a potential upside of 10.41%. Given Vivani Medical’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Vivani Medical is more favorable than BioLife Solutions.

Risk and Volatility

Vivani Medical has a beta of 3.22, indicating that its share price is 222% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioLife Solutions has a beta of 1.91, indicating that its share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Vivani Medical and BioLife Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vivani Medical	N/A	-102.42%	-49.21%
BioLife Solutions	-38.98%	-6.61%	-5.54%

Summary

Vivani Medical beats BioLife Solutions on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vivani Medical

Vivani Medical, Inc., a clinical stage company, develops various implants that treat chronic diseases with high unmet medical need. It engages in developing a portfolio of miniature drug implants to deliver minimally fluctuating drug profiles; and implantable visual prostheses devices to deliver useful artificial vision to blind individuals. The company is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

About BioLife Solutions

BioLife Solutions, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets bioproduction tools and services for the cell and gene therapy (CGT) industry in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. The company’s products are used in the basic and applied research, and commercial manufacturing of biologic-based therapies. It offers proprietary biopreservation media products, including HypoThermosol FRS and CryoStor Freeze Media that are formulated to mitigate preservation-induced, delayed-onset cell damage and death; bioproduction tools, such as human platelet lysates for cell expansion and CellSeal closed system vials that are used in CGT; and the ThawSTAR line that comprises of a family of automated thawing devices for frozen cell and gene therapies packaged in cryovials and cryobags. The company also provides cryogenic freezer technology for controlled rate freezing and cryogenic storage of biologic materials; ultra-low temperature mechanical freezers; evo shipping containers that are cloud-connected passive storage and transport containers for temperature-sensitive biologics and pharmaceuticals; liquid nitrogen laboratory freezers, cryogenic equipment, and accessories; and biological and pharmaceutical storage and transport services. It markets and sells its products directly, as well as through third party distributors. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.