Medtronic (MDT) Competitors

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

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, MDT or ABT?

Abbott Laboratories has higher revenue and earnings than Medtronic. Medtronic 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
Medtronic	$32.36B	3.47	$3.68B	$2.75	31.82
Abbott Laboratories	$40.73B	4.76	$5.72B	$3.21	34.70

Which has more volatility & risk, MDT or ABT?

Medtronic has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.72, meaning that its stock price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MDT or ABT?

Medtronic received 657 more outperform votes than Abbott Laboratories when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.89% of users gave Medtronic an outperform vote while only 69.66% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Medtronic	Outperform Votes 1580 75.89%	Underperform Votes 502 24.11%
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 923 69.66%	Underperform Votes 402 30.34%

Do analysts rate MDT or ABT?

Medtronic currently has a consensus target price of $91.50, suggesting a potential upside of 4.56%. Abbott Laboratories has a consensus target price of $121.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.64%. Given Abbott Laboratories' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Abbott Laboratories is more favorable than Medtronic.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medtronic	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Abbott Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78

Does the media prefer MDT or ABT?

In the previous week, Medtronic had 46 more articles in the media than Abbott Laboratories. MarketBeat recorded 63 mentions for Medtronic and 17 mentions for Abbott Laboratories. Abbott Laboratories' average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat Medtronic's score of 0.60 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Medtronic	15 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	27 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Abbott Laboratories	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MDT or ABT a better dividend stock?

Medtronic pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Medtronic pays out 101.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Abbott Laboratories pays out 68.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MDT or ABT?

82.1% of Medtronic shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Medtronic shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Abbott Laboratories shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is MDT or ABT more profitable?

Abbott Laboratories has a net margin of 13.65% compared to Medtronic's net margin of 11.36%. Abbott Laboratories' return on equity of 20.18% beat Medtronic's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medtronic	11.36%	13.47%	7.65%
Abbott Laboratories	13.65%	20.18%	10.77%

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats Medtronic on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.