Head to Head Review: Tvardi Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TVRD) versus Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN)

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Tvardi Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TVRD) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

20.4% of Astrazeneca shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.7% of Tvardi Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.4% of Tvardi Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Astrazeneca and Tvardi Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrazeneca	$58.74 billion	4.13	$10.22 billion	$6.69	23.39
Tvardi Therapeutics	$7.14 million	2.13	-$18.21 million	($2.79)	-0.41

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Astrazeneca and Tvardi Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrazeneca	1	3	14	0	2.72
Tvardi Therapeutics	1	1	6	1	2.78

Astrazeneca presently has a consensus target price of $206.67, suggesting a potential upside of 32.05%. Tvardi Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1,478.95%. Given Tvardi Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Tvardi Therapeutics is more favorable than Astrazeneca.

Profitability

This table compares Astrazeneca and Tvardi Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrazeneca	17.02%	31.45%	13.20%
Tvardi Therapeutics	N/A	-145.40%	-91.11%

Risk & Volatility

Astrazeneca has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tvardi Therapeutics has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Astrazeneca beats Tvardi Therapeutics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrazeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company’s marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

About Tvardi Therapeutics

Cara Therapeutics, Inc., an early commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing chemical entities with a primary focus on pruritus and pain by selectively targeting kappa opioid receptors in the United States. The company is developing product candidates that target the body’s peripheral nervous system and immune cells. The company’s lead product is KORSUVA (difelikefalin) injection for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pruritus associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adults undergoing hemodialysis. Its product candidate includes Oral KORSUVA (difelikefalin), which has completed Phase II clinical trial to treat pruritus atopic dermatitis and pruritus non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) associated pruritus; and in Phase II clinical trial to treat pruritus chronic liver disease (CLD) primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) and notalgia paresthetica. The company has license agreements with Maruishi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd to develop, manufacture, and commercialize drug products containing difelikefalin for acute pain and uremic pruritus in Japan; and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corporation to develop, manufacture, and commercialize drug products containing difelikefalin in South Korea. Cara Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Stamford, Connecticut.