Critical Analysis: Trees (OTCMKTS:CANN) versus Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN)

Trees (OTCMKTS:CANN) and Guardian Pharmacy Services (NYSE:GRDN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Trees and Guardian Pharmacy Services, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Trees	0	0	0	0	0.00
Guardian Pharmacy Services	0	0	3	0	3.00

Guardian Pharmacy Services has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 3.72%. Given Guardian Pharmacy Services’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Guardian Pharmacy Services is more favorable than Trees.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Trees and Guardian Pharmacy Services”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Trees	$18.14 million	0.11	-$7.08 million	($0.04)	-0.48
Guardian Pharmacy Services	$1.17 billion	1.15	N/A	N/A	N/A

Guardian Pharmacy Services has higher revenue and earnings than Trees.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.3% of Trees shares are held by institutional investors. 45.0% of Trees shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Trees and Guardian Pharmacy Services’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Trees	-37.08%	N/A	-24.24%
Guardian Pharmacy Services	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Guardian Pharmacy Services beats Trees on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Trees

Trees Corporation provides products and services to the regulated cannabis industry in the United States. The company operates through Retail and Cultivation segments. It operates a licensed 17,000 square foot light deprivation greenhouse cultivation facility; and retail dispensary store in Englewood, Colorado, as well as retail stores in Portland, Oregon. The company was formerly known as General Cannabis Corp. and changed its name to Trees Corporation in June 2022. Trees Corporation was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado.

About Guardian Pharmacy Services

Guardian Pharmacy Services, Inc., a pharmacy service company, provides a suite of technology-enabled services designed to help residents of long-term health care facilities (LTCFs) in the United States. Its individualized clinical, drug dispensing, and administration capabilities are used to serve the needs of residents in lower acuity LTCFs, such as assisted living facilities and behavioral health facilities and group homes. The company’s Guardian Compass includes dashboards created using data from its data warehouse to help its local pharmacies plan, track, and optimize their business operations; and GuardianShield Programs for LTCFs. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.