Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) and Targeted Medical Pharma (OTCMKTS:TRGM) Head to Head Review

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) and Targeted Medical Pharma (OTCMKTS:TRGM) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Assembly Biosciences and Targeted Medical Pharma, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assembly Biosciences	0	1	2	0	2.67
Targeted Medical Pharma	0	0	0	0	0.00

Assembly Biosciences presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 90.64%. Given Assembly Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Assembly Biosciences is more favorable than Targeted Medical Pharma.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.9% of Assembly Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Assembly Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 69.2% of Targeted Medical Pharma shares are held 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.

Profitability

This table compares Assembly Biosciences and Targeted Medical Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assembly Biosciences	-124.15%	-131.77%	-36.81%
Targeted Medical Pharma	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Assembly Biosciences and Targeted Medical Pharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assembly Biosciences	$28.52 million	4.64	-$40.18 million	($6.23)	-2.78
Targeted Medical Pharma	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Targeted Medical Pharma has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Assembly Biosciences.

Summary

Assembly Biosciences beats Targeted Medical Pharma on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Targeted Medical Pharma

Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, doing business as Physician Therapeutics, develops and commercializes amino acid based medications to physicians, pharmacies, and patients in the United States. It offers a line of patented amino acid based medical food products, dietary supplements, and generic drugs primarily for the treatment of metabolic syndrome/obesity; sleep disorders associated with anxiety; hypertension; viral infections; cognitive disorders/fatigue; sleep disorders associated with depression, fibromyalgia, and PTSD; pain disorders and inflammatory conditions/fibromyalgia; osteoarthritis and joint disorders; and peripheral neuropathy. The company also provides a proprietary billing process and supporting software (PDRx) that facilitates physician dispensing; provides inventory control; and assists regulatory reporting. In addition, it offers billing and collection services relating to its products on behalf of dispensing physician clients to private insurance and workers' compensation insurance. Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc. distributes its products through a network of distributors and an internal sales force that sells products directly to dispensing physician clients. The company was formerly known as Targeted Medical Foods and changed its name to Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc. in 2006. Targeted Medical Pharma, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.