Head-To-Head Survey: Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) vs. XOMA Royalty (NASDAQ:XOMA)

XOMA Royalty (NASDAQ:XOMA) and Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Risk and Volatility

XOMA Royalty has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares XOMA Royalty and Ascendis Pharma A/S”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
XOMA Royalty	$28.49 million	11.85	-$13.82 million	$0.74	36.85
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$393.54 million	34.12	-$409.12 million	($4.44)	-48.80

XOMA Royalty has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ascendis Pharma A/S. Ascendis Pharma A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than XOMA Royalty, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares XOMA Royalty and Ascendis Pharma A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
XOMA Royalty	32.28%	2.91%	1.03%
Ascendis Pharma A/S	-35.51%	N/A	-20.56%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.9% of XOMA Royalty shares are held by institutional investors. 9.1% of XOMA Royalty shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 40.0% of Ascendis Pharma A/S shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for XOMA Royalty and Ascendis Pharma A/S, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
XOMA Royalty	1	1	3	0	2.40
Ascendis Pharma A/S	1	0	14	2	3.00

XOMA Royalty presently has a consensus price target of $60.60, suggesting a potential upside of 122.22%. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus price target of $264.44, suggesting a potential upside of 22.05%. Given XOMA Royalty’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe XOMA Royalty is more favorable than Ascendis Pharma A/S.

Summary

XOMA Royalty beats Ascendis Pharma A/S on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About XOMA Royalty

XOMA Corporation operates as a biotech royalty aggregator in the United States and the Asia Pacific. It has a portfolio of economic rights to future potential milestone and royalty payments associated with partnered commercial and pre-commercial therapeutic candidates. The company also focuses on early to mid-stage clinical assets primarily in Phase 1 and 2 with commercial sales potential that are licensed to partners; and acquires milestone and royalty revenue streams on late-stage clinical or commercial assets. It has a portfolio with various assets. XOMA Corporation was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark.