Analyzing Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) and Pharming Group (NASDAQ:PHAR)

Pharming Group (NASDAQ:PHAR) and Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Pharming Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Pharming Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held 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.

Risk and Volatility

Pharming Group has a beta of -0.05, meaning that its share price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Akebia Therapeutics has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its share price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Pharming Group and Akebia Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pharming Group	2.51%	3.40%	1.90%
Akebia Therapeutics	-13.54%	-88.88%	-7.74%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pharming Group and Akebia Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pharming Group	$376.13 million	1.76	$2.85 million	$0.12	78.04
Akebia Therapeutics	$236.20 million	0.79	-$5.34 million	($0.11)	-6.09

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Pharming Group and Akebia Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pharming Group	2	0	3	0	2.20
Akebia Therapeutics	1	2	4	0	2.43

Pharming Group presently has a consensus target price of $38.67, suggesting a potential upside of 312.88%. Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $3.90, suggesting a potential upside of 482.09%. Given Akebia Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Akebia Therapeutics is more favorable than Pharming Group.

Summary

Pharming Group beats Akebia Therapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pharming Group

Pharming Group N.V., a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes protein replacement therapies and precision medicines for the treatment of rare diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers RUCONEST, a recombinant C1 esterase inhibitor for the treatment of acute attacks in adult and adolescent patients with acute hereditary angioedema (HAE); and Joenja (leniolisib), an oral small molecule PI3K? inhibitor for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome. It also develops OTL-105, an investigational ex-vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy for the treatment of HAE. The company has a development collaboration and license agreement with Novartis; and a strategic collaboration agreement with Orchard Therapeutics plc for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of OTL-105. Pharming Group N.V. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands.

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney diseases. The company’s lead product investigational product candidate is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, which is in Phase III development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent patients. It offers Auryxia, a ferric citrate that is used to control the serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with DD-CKD on dialysis; and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis. The company’s product pipeline includes AKB-9090, a drug targeting critical-care indications; and AKB-10108, a drug targeting conditions related to premature birth. It has collaboration agreements with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for the development and commercialization of vadadustat in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as research and license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV for the development and commercialization of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase targeted compounds worldwide. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.