aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:LIFE – Get Free Report) and Fennec Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:FENC – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability and valuation.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
61.7% of aTyr Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.5% of Fennec Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of aTyr Pharma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.3% of Fennec Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Risk and Volatility
aTyr Pharma has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fennec Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| aTyr Pharma | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2.75 |
| Fennec Pharmaceuticals | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
aTyr Pharma presently has a consensus target price of $23.67, indicating a potential upside of 1,379.17%. Fennec Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $17.33, indicating a potential upside of 91.11%. Given aTyr Pharma’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe aTyr Pharma is more favorable than Fennec Pharmaceuticals.
Profitability
This table compares aTyr Pharma and Fennec Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| aTyr Pharma | N/A | -49.84% | -39.12% |
| Fennec Pharmaceuticals | -75.50% | N/A | -73.64% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares aTyr Pharma and Fennec Pharmaceuticals’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| aTyr Pharma | $350,000.00 | 310.58 | -$50.39 million | ($0.96) | -1.67 |
| Fennec Pharmaceuticals | $21.25 million | 11.57 | -$16.05 million | ($0.61) | -14.87 |
Fennec Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than aTyr Pharma. Fennec Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than aTyr Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
aTyr Pharma beats Fennec Pharmaceuticals on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About aTyr Pharma
aTyr Pharma, Inc., a biotherapeutics company, engages in the discovery and development of medicines based on novel immunological pathways in the United States. Its lead therapeutic candidate is efzofitimod, a selective modulator of NRP2 that is in Phase III clinical trial for pulmonary sarcoidosis; and in Phase 1b/2a clinical trial for treatment of other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), such as chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis and connective tissue disease related ILD. The company is developing ATYR0101, a fusion protein derived from a domain of aspartyl-tRNA synthetase that is in preclinical development for the treatment of fibrosis; and ATYR0750, a domain of alanyl-tRNA synthetase for the treatment of liver disorders. It has collaboration and license agreement with Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of efzofitimod for ILDs in Japan. aTyr Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
About Fennec Pharmaceuticals
Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops product candidates for use in the treatment of cancer in the United States. Its lead product candidate is the Sodium Thiosulfate, which has completed the Phase III clinical trial for the prevention of cisplatin induced hearing loss or ototoxicity in children. The company was formerly known as Adherex Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. in September 2014. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
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