Comparing Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) and Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX)

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) and Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Sarepta Therapeutics and Protagonist Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sarepta Therapeutics	7	6	7	0	2.00
Protagonist Therapeutics	0	0	16	2	3.11

Sarepta Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $22.88, indicating a potential upside of 23.25%. Protagonist Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $158.19, indicating a potential upside of 14.56%. Given Sarepta Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Sarepta Therapeutics is more favorable than Protagonist Therapeutics.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.7% of Sarepta Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.6% of Protagonist Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 6.9% of Sarepta Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Protagonist Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Sarepta Therapeutics and Protagonist Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sarepta Therapeutics	-13.48%	-1.60%	-0.66%
Protagonist Therapeutics	29.40%	12.03%	11.23%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sarepta Therapeutics and Protagonist Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sarepta Therapeutics	$2.20 billion	0.89	-$713.41 million	($2.90)	-6.40
Protagonist Therapeutics	$46.02 million	194.16	-$130.15 million	$1.03	134.06

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

Volatility & Risk

Sarepta Therapeutics has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Protagonist Therapeutics has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Protagonist Therapeutics beats Sarepta Therapeutics on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sarepta Therapeutics

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapeutics, gene therapies, and other genetic therapeutic modalities for the treatment of rare diseases. It offers EXONDYS 51 injection to treat duchenne muscular dystrophy (duchenne) in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping; VYONDYS 53 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 53 skipping; AMONDYS 45 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene; and ELEVIDYS, an adeno-associated virus based gene therapy for the treatment of ambulatory pediatric patients aged 4 through 5 years with duchenne with a confirmed mutation in the duchenne gene. The company is also developing SRP-5051, a peptide conjugated PMO that binds exon 51 of dystrophin pre-mRNA; and SRP-9003, a limb-girdle muscular dystrophies gene therapy program. It has collaboration and license agreements with F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd; Nationwide Children's Hospital; Genevant Sciences; University of Florida; Dyno Therapeutics; Hansa Biopharma; Duke University; Genethon; and StrideBio. The company was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops peptide-based drugs for hematology and blood disorders, and inflammatory and immunomodulatory diseases. It is developing Rusfertide (PTG-300), an injectable hepcidin mimetic that completed phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of polycythemia vera and other blood disorders; and JNJ-2113, an orally delivered investigational drug to block biological pathways that completed phase 2b clinical trials for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; and PN-943, an orally delivered, gut-restricted alpha 4 beta 7 specific integrin antagonist completed a phase 2 clinical trials in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. The company has a license and collaboration agreement with Takeda to commercialize rusfertide; and JNJ Innovative Medicines to co-develop Interleukin-23 receptor antagonist compound JNJ-2113. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Newark, California.