Comparing Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) & Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Assembly Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	0	4	2	1	2.57
Assembly Biosciences	1	1	5	0	2.57

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $31.60, indicating a potential upside of 32.88%. Assembly Biosciences has a consensus price target of $41.25, indicating a potential upside of 40.07%. Given Assembly Biosciences’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Assembly Biosciences is more favorable than Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.9% of Assembly Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Assembly Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Assembly Biosciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$731.97 million	1.51	$159.52 million	$2.67	8.91
Assembly Biosciences	$28.52 million	7.92	-$40.18 million	($5.58)	-5.28

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

Volatility & Risk

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.75, meaning that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assembly Biosciences has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Amphastar Pharmaceuticals and Assembly Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	18.64%	20.76%	9.68%
Assembly Biosciences	-117.20%	-149.01%	-39.04%

Summary

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals beats Assembly Biosciences on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency. The company provides Amphadase, an injection to absorb and disperse other injected drugs; Epinephrine injection for allergic reactions; Lidocaine jelly, an anesthetic product for urological procedures; Lidocaine topical solution for various procedures; Phytonadione injection, a vitamin K1 injection for newborn babies; emergency syringe products; morphine injection for use with patient-controlled analgesia pumps; and Lorazepam injection for surgery and medical procedures. In addition, it offers Neostigmine methylsulfate injection to treat myasthenia gravis and to reverse the effects of muscle relaxants; Isoproterenol hydrochloride injection for mild or transient episodes of heart block; Ganirelix Acetate injection for the inhibition of premature luteinizing hormone surges; Vasopressin to increase blood pressure; and Regadenoson, a stress agent for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. Further, the company distributes recombinant human insulin APIs and porcine insulin API. Additionally, it develops generic product candidates, such as injectable, inhalation, and analytical technologies; biosimial product candidates; and intranasal epinephrine for the treatment of allergic reactions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.

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.