Cytosorbents (NASDAQ:CTSO) & Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) Head-To-Head Contrast

Glaukos (NYSE:GKOS) and Cytosorbents (NASDAQ:CTSO) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Glaukos has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cytosorbents has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Glaukos	-39.04%	-16.53%	-10.61%
Cytosorbents	-49.47%	-118.54%	-42.31%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Glaukos and Cytosorbents, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Glaukos	1	0	11	1	2.92
Cytosorbents	0	1	2	1	3.00

Glaukos presently has a consensus target price of $163.25, indicating a potential upside of 52.97%. Cytosorbents has a consensus target price of $4.67, indicating a potential upside of 348.72%. Given Cytosorbents’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cytosorbents is more favorable than Glaukos.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.0% of Glaukos shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.9% of Cytosorbents shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Glaukos 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, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Glaukos and Cytosorbents”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Glaukos	$383.48 million	15.74	-$134.66 million	($2.87)	-37.18
Cytosorbents	$33.79 million	1.68	-$28.51 million	($0.36)	-2.89

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

Summary

Glaukos beats Cytosorbents on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Glaukos

Glaukos Corporation, an ophthalmic pharmaceutical and medical technology company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for the treatment of glaucoma, corneal disorders, and retinal diseases. It offers iStent and iStent inject W micro-bypass stents that enhance aqueous humor outflow inserted in cataract surgery to treat mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma. The company's product pipeline includes iStent Infinite indicated for use in the treatment of patients with glaucoma uncontrolled by prior medical and surgical therapy; and iDose TR, an intracameral procedural pharmaceutical therapy indicated for the reduction of intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. The company markets its products through direct sales organization, as well as through distributors in the United States and internationally. Glaukos Corporation was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.

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.