Head to Head Review: Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) versus Viveon Health Acquisition (NYSE:VHAQ)

Viveon Health Acquisition (NYSE:VHAQ) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Viveon Health Acquisition and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viveon Health Acquisition	0	0	0	0	N/A
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	0	0	2	0	3.00

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $14.00, suggesting a potential upside of 71.57%. Given Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Viveon Health Acquisition.

Volatility and Risk

Viveon Health Acquisition has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its share price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Viveon Health Acquisition and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viveon Health Acquisition	N/A	N/A	N/A
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	-48.59%	-19.54%	-15.24%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

17.5% of Viveon Health Acquisition shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.6% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 73.2% of Viveon Health Acquisition shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Viveon Health Acquisition and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viveon Health Acquisition	N/A	N/A	-$490,000.00	N/A	N/A
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	$134.03 million	8.74	-$108.18 million	($0.53)	-15.40

Viveon Health Acquisition has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Aurinia Pharmaceuticals.

About Viveon Health Acquisition

Viveon Health Acquisition Corp. does not have significant operations. It intends to effect a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, recapitalization, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses in the healthcare industry in North America. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Viveon Health Acquisition Corp. operates as a subsidiary of Viveon Health LLC.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to treat various diseases with unmet medical need in the United States. The company also offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. is headquartered in Victoria, Canada.