Comparing AVAX Technologies (OTCMKTS:AVXT) & Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) and AVAX Technologies (OTCMKTS:AVXT) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.0% of Qiagen shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of Qiagen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of AVAX Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Qiagen and AVAX Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Qiagen	4.73%	13.43%	8.10%
AVAX Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Qiagen and AVAX Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Qiagen	0	4	6	0	2.60
AVAX Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00

Qiagen presently has a consensus price target of $50.88, suggesting a potential upside of 17.15%. Given Qiagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Qiagen is more favorable than AVAX Technologies.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Qiagen and AVAX Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Qiagen	$1.97 billion	5.04	$341.30 million	$0.39	111.36
AVAX Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Qiagen has higher revenue and earnings than AVAX Technologies.

Summary

Qiagen beats AVAX Technologies on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN N.V. offers sample to insight solutions that transform biological materials into molecular insights worldwide. The company provides primary sample technology consumables, such as nucleic stabilization and purification kits for primary sample materials, manual and automated processing for genotyping, gene expression, and viral and bacterial analysis, as well as silica membranes and magnetic bead technologies; secondary sample technology consumables, including kits and components for purification of nucleic acids from secondary sample materials; and instruments for nucleic acid purification and accessories. It also provides interferon-gamma release assay for TB testing, and assays for post-transplant testing and viral load monitoring; assays for prenatal testing and detection of sexually transmitted diseases and HPV, as well as assays for analysis of genomic variants, such as mutations, insertions, deletions, and fusions; and sample to insight instruments, including one-step molecular analysis of hard-to-diagnose syndromes, and integrated PCR testing. In addition, it offers PCR consumables, such as quantitative PCR, reverse transcription, and combinations kits for analysis of gene expression, genotyping and gene regulation, and running on QIAGEN instruments and technologies; human ID and forensics assay consumables, including STR assays for human ID, and assays for food contamination; PCR instruments consist of digital PCR and qPCR solutions; and developed and configured enzymes and PCR solutions. Further, the company provides predefined and custom NGS gene panels, library prep kits and components, and whole genome amplification; QIAGEN consumables and instruments, as well as bioinformatics solutions; and custom laboratory and genomic services. It serves molecular diagnostics, academia, pharmaceutical, and applied testing customers. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Venlo, the Netherlands.

About AVAX Technologies

AVAX Technologies, Inc., a development stage biopharmaceutical company, develops autologous cell vaccine technologies for the treatment of cancer. The company’s product candidates that have completed phase II clinical trials include M-VAX for the treatment of melanoma and O-VAX for the treatment for ovarian cancer. It also develops LungVax for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. The company was formerly known as Walden Laboratories, Inc. and changed its name to AVAX Technologies, Inc. in March 1996. AVAX Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.