Critical Review: Salarius Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLRX) vs. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) and Salarius Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLRX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	$450.71 million	3.59	-$88.88 million	($0.18)	-42.78
Salarius Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$5.58 million	($43.48)	-0.13

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Salarius Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	0	1	9	0	2.90
Salarius Pharmaceuticals	0	0	0	0	0.00

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $16.70, suggesting a potential upside of 116.88%. Given BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Salarius Pharmaceuticals.

Volatility & Risk

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Salarius Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.5, indicating that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.9% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.9% of Salarius Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Salarius Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Salarius Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	-6.41%	N/A	-1.78%
Salarius Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-556.47%	-192.35%

Summary

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals beats Salarius Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat rare diseases. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema. It is also developing BCX10013, an oral factor D inhibitor for complement-mediated diseases. The company has collaborations and in-license relationships with the Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Seqirus UK Limited; Shionogi & Co., Ltd.; Green Cross Corporation; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Industrial Research, Ltd. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

About Salarius Pharmaceuticals

Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing treatments for cancers with unmet medical need. Its lead candidate is Seclidemstat (SP-2577), a small molecular inhibitor which is in Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of advanced solid tumors, as well as Ewing sarcoma. The company also offers SP-3164, a small molecular protein degrader for the treatment of hematological and solid tumors. It has a strategic partnership with The University of Utah Research Foundation for the exclusive license with respect to patent rights protecting SP-2577 and related compounds and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas for product development activities. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas.