Is HBIO or PACB the better stock?

"Better" depends on your goal, and these two are not alike. PACB is the larger company by market cap ($420M vs $34M). PACB has been more active on our scanner (126 vs 0 alerts in 30 days). HBIO has the smaller float (4.6M vs 306.6M), which tends to mean sharper, more volatile moves. Those are the measured differences, not a recommendation, and nothing here is investment advice.

What is the difference between HBIO and PACB?

The differences that matter: PACB is roughly 12x the size of the other by market cap ($34M vs $420M); they trade at very different share prices ($7.06 vs $1.36); HBIO sits at 59% of its 52-week range against 17% for PACB; our scanner flagged HBIO 0 times in the last 30 days against 126 for PACB. Everything above is measured from the latest completed session and SEC filings.

Which of HBIO and PACB is more active right now?

Right now HBIO is at about 0.6x its normal volume and PACB is at about 1.1x, so PACB is the one drawing unusual attention today. Relative volume (RVOL) compares a stock's volume to its own recent average, so it reads the same way for a megacap and a microcap and is the quickest way to tell which of two similar names is actually in play.

Is this comparison data live?

Prices and % changes are anchored to the latest completed session and split-adjusted, so a reverse split never shows as a fake move. Float is estimated from SEC filings and refreshed as new filings publish.

Compare

HBIO vs PACB

TheDesperateTrader.com· Side-by-side stock comparison

$HBIO vs $PACB head to head: price, market cap, valuation, dividend, free float, relative volume and how actively each trades. The bigger value in the size rows is bolded. Tap either ticker for its live chart, full ownership breakdown and real-time alerts.

$HBIOHarvard Bioscience Inc

$PACBPacific Biosciences of California, Inc.

$7.06

Price

$1.36

-5.6%

Day change

+0.7%

$34M

Market cap

$420M

—

P/E ratio

—

Dividend yield

—

4.6M

Free float

306.6M

51.97%

Institutional

68.63%

17K

Avg volume

6.7M

0.6x

Rel. volume

1.1x

59% of 52w

52-week range

17% of 52w

Scanner alerts 30d

126

LABORATORY ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTS

Sector

LABORATORY ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTS

HBIO vs PACB: the quick read

·PACB is the larger company by market cap ($420M vs $34M).
·PACB has been more active on our scanner (126 vs 0 alerts in 30 days).
·HBIO has the smaller float (4.6M vs 306.6M), which tends to mean sharper, more volatile moves.
·Both are laboratory analytical instruments names, so this is a like-for-like comparison and sector news tends to move them together.
·PACB trades at a small fraction of the other's share price, so position sizing and the size of a "normal" move differ a lot between them.
·Only one of them shows up on our scanner: PACB triggered 126 unusual-volume alerts in the last 30 days and the other triggered none.
·They are not really peers by size: PACB is more than 12x the market cap of HBIO, so the same dollar of news moves HBIO far harder.
·They are pulling apart today: PACB is outperforming the other by roughly 6.4 percentage points on the session.

Objective differences only. Not investment advice.

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Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know comparing HBIO and PACB on TheDesperateTrader.

Is HBIO or PACB the better stock?: "Better" depends on your goal, and these two are not alike. PACB is the larger company by market cap ($420M vs $34M). PACB has been more active on our scanner (126 vs 0 alerts in 30 days). HBIO has the smaller float (4.6M vs 306.6M), which tends to mean sharper, more volatile moves. Those are the measured differences, not a recommendation, and nothing here is investment advice.
What is the difference between HBIO and PACB?: The differences that matter: PACB is roughly 12x the size of the other by market cap ($34M vs $420M); they trade at very different share prices ($7.06 vs $1.36); HBIO sits at 59% of its 52-week range against 17% for PACB; our scanner flagged HBIO 0 times in the last 30 days against 126 for PACB. Everything above is measured from the latest completed session and SEC filings.
Which of HBIO and PACB is more active right now?: Right now HBIO is at about 0.6x its normal volume and PACB is at about 1.1x, so PACB is the one drawing unusual attention today. Relative volume (RVOL) compares a stock's volume to its own recent average, so it reads the same way for a megacap and a microcap and is the quickest way to tell which of two similar names is actually in play.
Is this comparison data live?: Prices and % changes are anchored to the latest completed session and split-adjusted, so a reverse split never shows as a fake move. Float is estimated from SEC filings and refreshed as new filings publish.

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