Financial Survey: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) & Supernus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SUPN)

Supernus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SUPN) and Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Liquidia, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Supernus Pharmaceuticals	0	2	1	0	2.33
Liquidia	0	1	6	2	3.11

Supernus Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus target price of $36.00, suggesting a potential upside of 17.04%. Liquidia has a consensus target price of $26.63, suggesting a potential upside of 94.06%. Given Liquidia’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Liquidia is more favorable than Supernus Pharmaceuticals.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Liquidia”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Supernus Pharmaceuticals	$661.82 million	2.59	$1.32 million	$1.32	23.30
Liquidia	$14.00 million	83.62	-$78.50 million	($1.67)	-8.22

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

Risk & Volatility

Supernus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liquidia has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Supernus Pharmaceuticals and Liquidia’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Supernus Pharmaceuticals	9.16%	7.79%	5.67%
Liquidia	-765.38%	-163.21%	-67.14%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

64.5% of Liquidia shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.3% of Supernus Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 30.1% of Liquidia shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Supernus Pharmaceuticals beats Liquidia on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Supernus Pharmaceuticals

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases in the United States. The company's commercial products are Trokendi XR, an extended release topiramate product indicated for the treatment of epilepsy, as well as for the prophylaxis of migraine headache; and Oxtellar XR, an extended release oxcarbazepine for the monotherapy treatment of partial onset seizures in adults and children between 6 to 17 years of age. It also offers comprise Qelbree, a novel non-stimulant indicated for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and pediatric patients 6 years and older; APOKYN for the acute intermittent treatment of hypomobility or off episodes in patients with advanced Parkinson's Disease (PD); XADAGO for treating levodopa/carbidopa in patients with PD experiencing off episodes; MYOBLOC, a Type B toxin product indicated for the treatment of cervical dystonia and sialorrhea in adults; GOCOVRI for the treatment of dyskinesia in patients with PD; and Osmolex ER for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and drug-induced extrapyramidal reaction in adult patients. In addition, the company's product candidates include SPN-830, a late-stage drug/device combination product candidate for the treatment of off episodes in PD patients; SPN-817, a novel first-in-class selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of epilepsy; SPN-820, a product candidate in Phase II clinical trials for treating resistant depression; SPN-443, a preclinical product for the treatment of ADHD/CNS; and SPN-446 for narcolepsy and SPN-448 for the treatment of CNS which is in discovery stage. It markets and sells its products through pharmaceutical wholesalers, specialty pharmacies, and distributors. Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD). The company also offers Remodulin, a treprostinil administered through continuous intravenous and subcutaneous infusion. The company also a license agreement with Pharmosa Biopharm Inc to develop and commercialize L606, an inhaled sustained-release formulation of Treprostinil for the treatment of PAH and PH-ILD. Liquidia Corporation was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Morrisville, North Carolina.