Critical Review: Talphera (TLPH) & Its Rivals

Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) is one of 896 public companies in the “Pharmaceuticals” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Talphera to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

37.7% of Talphera shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.6% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Talphera shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Talphera and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Talphera	1	1	2	0	2.25
Talphera Competitors	7806	13897	25803	1039	2.41

Talphera presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 185.71%. As a group, “Pharmaceuticals” companies have a potential upside of 25.01%. Given Talphera’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Talphera is more favorable than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Talphera and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Talphera	$30,000.00	-$14.29 million	-3.89
Talphera Competitors	$3.53 billion	$3.17 billion	552.63

Talphera’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Talphera. Talphera is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Talphera has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Talphera’s rivals have a beta of -3.79, indicating that their average stock price is 479% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Talphera and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Talphera	N/A	-87.28%	-51.36%
Talphera Competitors	-2,380.61%	-219.90%	-15.56%

Summary

Talphera rivals beat Talphera on 7 of the 12 factors compared.

Talphera Company Profile

Talphera, formerly known as AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for acute pain. The company’s lead product is DSUVIA, a sublingual tablet containing sufentanil, an opioid analgesic designed to provide rapid relief for adults experiencing acute pain severe enough to require an opioid. DSUVIA is intended for use in medically supervised settings, including hospitals, surgical centers and other certified health-care environments.