Analyzing OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) & Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB)

OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) and Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares OPKO Health and Assembly Biosciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
OPKO Health	$689.36 million	1.35	-$188.86 million	($0.07)	-19.79
Assembly Biosciences	$28.52 million	3.80	-$61.23 million	($6.72)	-2.11

Assembly Biosciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than OPKO Health. OPKO Health is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assembly Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for OPKO Health and Assembly Biosciences, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
OPKO Health	0	1	3	0	2.75
Assembly Biosciences	0	1	2	0	2.67

OPKO Health presently has a consensus price target of $2.75, suggesting a potential upside of 98.56%. Assembly Biosciences has a consensus price target of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 132.72%. Given Assembly Biosciences’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Assembly Biosciences is more favorable than OPKO Health.

Profitability

This table compares OPKO Health and Assembly Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
OPKO Health	-18.65%	-9.76%	-6.46%
Assembly Biosciences	-144.05%	-121.46%	-34.56%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.6% of OPKO Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.9% of Assembly Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 49.7% of OPKO Health shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Assembly Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

OPKO Health has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assembly Biosciences has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

OPKO Health beats Assembly Biosciences on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About OPKO Health

OPKO Health, Inc., a healthcare company, engages in the diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the United States, Ireland, Chile, Spain, Israel, Mexico, and internationally. The company's Diagnostics segment operates BioReference Laboratories that offers laboratory testing services for the detection, diagnosis, evaluation, monitoring, and treatment of diseases, including esoteric testing, molecular diagnostics, anatomical pathology, genetics, women's health, and correctional healthcare to physician offices, clinics, hospitals, employers, and governmental units; and 4Kscore prostate cancer test. Its Pharmaceutical segment offers Rayaldee to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism in adults with stage 3 or 4 chronic kidney disease, and vitamin D insufficiency. This segment also develops multi-specific immune therapies focused on oncology, infectious diseases, vaccines, and immunology; OPK88004, an orally administered selective androgen receptor modulator; OPK88003, a once-weekly administered peptide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and related obesity; Somatrogon (hGH-CTP), a once-weekly human growth hormone injection; and Factor VIIa-CTP, a novel long-acting coagulation factor being developed to treat hemophilia. In addition, it develops and commercializes longer-acting proprietary versions of already approved therapeutic proteins; develops and produces specialty APIs; develops, manufactures, markets, and sells pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, veterinary, and ophthalmic products; commercializes food supplements and over the counter products; manufactures and sells products primarily in the generics market; and markets, distributes, and sells pharmaceutical products in a range of indications, including cardiovascular products, vaccines, antibiotics, gastro-intestinal products, hormones, and others. The company also operates pharmaceutical platforms in Ireland, Chile, Spain, and Mexico. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About Assembly Biosciences

Assembly Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops therapeutic candidates for the treatment of viral diseases. It develops ABI-5366, a long-acting herpes simplex virus (HSV) helicase-primase inhibitor that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial to treat recurrent genital herpes; ABI-1179, which is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes; and ABI-6250, a small molecule orally bioavailable hepatitis delta virus entry inhibitor that is in Phase 1a clinical trial. The company also develops ABI-4334, a next-generation capsid assembly modulator, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV). In addition, it develops an oral non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor targeting transplant-related herpesviruses; and a small molecule interferon-a receptor agonist targeting HBV and HDV. The company has collaboration agreements with Gilead Sciences, Inc. and BeiGene, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Ventrus Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Assembly Biosciences, Inc. in June 2014. Assembly Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.