Comparing MEI Pharma (NASDAQ:MEIP) and Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT)

MEI Pharma (NASDAQ:MEIP) and Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for MEI Pharma and Applied Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MEI Pharma	0	2	0	0	2.00
Applied Therapeutics	0	3	3	0	2.50

Applied Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $6.10, suggesting a potential upside of 1,623.16%. Given Applied Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Applied Therapeutics is more favorable than MEI Pharma.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

52.4% of MEI Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.3% of Applied Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of MEI Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Applied Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

MEI Pharma has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its stock price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Therapeutics has a beta of 1.86, meaning that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares MEI Pharma and Applied Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MEI Pharma	N/A	-84.92%	-67.53%
Applied Therapeutics	N/A	-260.75%	-76.04%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares MEI Pharma and Applied Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MEI Pharma	$65.30 million	0.23	$17.78 million	($4.75)	-0.48
Applied Therapeutics	$265,000.00	189.12	-$119.76 million	($0.43)	-0.82

MEI Pharma has higher revenue and earnings than Applied Therapeutics. Applied Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MEI Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Applied Therapeutics beats MEI Pharma on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MEI Pharma

MEI Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of various therapies for the treatment of cancer. The company develops Zandelisib, an oral phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase delta inhibitor for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma; and Voruciclib, an oral cyclin-dependent kinase 9 inhibitor, which is in Phase I clinical trial for acute myeloid leukemia and B-cell malignancies. It also develops ME-344, a mitochondrial inhibitor targeting the oxidative phosphorylation complex which has completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 negative breast cancer. MEI Pharma, Inc. has a license agreement with Presage Biosciences, Inc. The company was formerly known as Marshall Edwards, Inc. and changed its name to MEI Pharma, Inc. in July 2012. MEI Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Applied Therapeutics

Applied Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is AT-007 (also called govorestat) that has completed phase 3 for the treatment of galactosemia in healthy volunteers and adults, in pediatric clinical study for the treatment of galactosemia in kids, for treating enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase, and for the treatment of phosphomannomutase enzyme-CDG. It also develops AT-001 (also called caficrestat) that is in phase 3 clinical trials to treat diabetic cardiomyopathy, as well as for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy; and AT-003, which is in preclinical studies for the treatment diabetic retinopathy. The company has exclusive license and supply agreement with Mercury Pharma Group Limited to commercialize drug products containing AT-007. Applied Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.