AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACRX) and LianBio (NASDAQ:LIAN) Financial Comparison

LianBio (NASDAQ:LIAN – Get Rating) and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACRX – Get Rating) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

LianBio has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AcelRx Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.27, indicating that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for LianBio and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
LianBio	0	0	1	0	3.00
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals	0	1	1	0	2.50

LianBio presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 673.20%. Given LianBio’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe LianBio is more favorable than AcelRx Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares LianBio and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
LianBio	N/A	-32.70%	-28.96%
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals	3,111.24%	N/A	-50.06%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares LianBio and AcelRx Pharmaceuticals’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
LianBio	N/A	N/A	-$196.30 million	($1.13)	-1.72
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals	$2.82 million	3.43	-$35.10 million	$6.26	0.21

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

77.6% of LianBio shares are held by institutional investors. 8.1% of LianBio shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About LianBio

(Get Rating)

LianBio, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing and commercializing medicines for cardiovascular, oncology, respiratory, opthalmology, and inflammatory diseases in China and other Asian countries. The company develops mavacamten for the treatment of obstructive and non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; TP-03 for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis; NBTXR3 for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and solid tumor; Infigratinib for the treatment of second-line and first-line cholangiocarcinoma, and gastric cancers; BBP-398 for solid tumors; Omilancor for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease; NX-13 for ulcerative colitis; LYR-210 for chronic rhinosinusitis; and Sisunatovir for respiratory syncytical virus. It has a partnership with Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop and commercialize TP-03, an eye solution for the treatment of Demodex blepharitis; and Nanobiotix S.A. to develop and commercialize NBTXR3, a radioenhancer designed to be injected directly into a malignant tumor prior to standard radiotherapy. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey.

About AcelRx Pharmaceuticals

(Get Rating)

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. engages in the development and commercialization of therapies use in medically supervised settings. The firm’s portfolio includes DSUVIA, DZUVEO, Zalviso, ARX-02 and ARX-03. The company was founded by Thomas A. Schreck and Pamela Pierce Palmer on July 13, 2005 and is headquartered in Hayward, CA.