ClearPoint Neuro (NASDAQ:CLPT) versus Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR) Head to Head Analysis

Avinger (NASDAQ:AVGR) and ClearPoint Neuro (NASDAQ:CLPT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Avinger and ClearPoint Neuro, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Avinger	0	0	0	0	0.00
ClearPoint Neuro	0	0	3	0	3.00

ClearPoint Neuro has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 117.96%. Given ClearPoint Neuro’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ClearPoint Neuro is more favorable than Avinger.

Profitability

This table compares Avinger and ClearPoint Neuro’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Avinger	-261.06%	-5,527.11%	-123.25%
ClearPoint Neuro	-59.64%	-62.10%	-38.39%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Avinger and ClearPoint Neuro”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Avinger	$7.26 million	0.22	-$18.32 million	($11.06)	-0.04
ClearPoint Neuro	$31.39 million	10.10	-$22.09 million	($0.70)	-16.39

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

Risk & Volatility

Avinger has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ClearPoint Neuro has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

18.3% of Avinger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.1% of ClearPoint Neuro shares are held by institutional investors. 42.8% of Avinger shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of ClearPoint Neuro 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.

Summary

ClearPoint Neuro beats Avinger on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Avinger

Avinger, Inc., a commercial-stage medical device company, designs, manufactures, and sells a suite of image-guided and catheter-based systems used by physicians to treat patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) primarily in the United States and Germany. The company develops lumivascular platform that integrates optical coherence tomography visualization with interventional catheters to provide real-time intravascular imaging during the treatment portion of PAD procedures. Its lumivascular products comprise Lightbox imaging consoles; the Ocelot and Tigereye family of devices, which are designed to allow physicians to penetrate a total blockage in an artery; and Pantheris, an image-guided atherectomy device that allows physicians to precisely remove arterial plaque in PAD patients. The company is also developing IMAGE-BTK for the treatment of PAD lesions below-the-knee. It markets and sells its products to interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Redwood City, California.

About ClearPoint Neuro

ClearPoint Neuro, Inc. operates as a medical device company primarily in the United States. It develops and commercializes platforms for performing minimally invasive surgical procedures in the brain under magnetic resonance imaging guided interventions. The company offers ClearPoint system, an integrated system for the insertion of deep brain stimulation electrodes, biopsy needles, and laser catheters, as well as the infusion of pharmaceuticals into the brain. It has license and collaboration agreement with Clinical Laserthermia Systems AB; license and research agreement with Koninklijke Philips N.V., UCB Biopharma SRL, and University of California and San Francisco; and development and license agreement with NE Scientific, LLC. The company was formerly known as MRI Interventions, Inc. and changed its name to ClearPoint Neuro, Inc. in February 2020. ClearPoint Neuro, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Solana Beach, California.