Reviewing Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX)

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) and Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.2% of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.7% of Talphera shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Talphera shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Talphera has a beta of 0.03, suggesting that its stock price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and Talphera, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	0	2	5	2	3.00
Talphera	1	0	2	2	3.00

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $33.20, indicating a potential upside of 54.85%. Talphera has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 254.61%. Given Talphera’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Talphera is more favorable than Catalyst Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and Talphera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	37.36%	40.78%	35.36%
Talphera	N/A	-152.38%	-64.32%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Catalyst Pharmaceuticals and Talphera”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	$558.50 million	4.70	$163.89 million	$1.65	12.99
Talphera	$27,000.00	2,434.08	-$13.00 million	($0.40)	-3.53

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

Summary

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals beats Talphera on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients. The company develops Firdapse for the treatment of MuSK antibody positive myasthenia gravis and spinal muscular atrophy type. It has license agreements with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.; and collaboration and license agreement with Endo Ventures Limited for the development and commercialization of generic Sabril tablets. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Coral Gables, Florida.

About Talphera

Talphera, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for use in medically supervised settings. Its lead product candidate is Niyad, a lyophilized formulation of nafamostat, which is under an investigational device exemption as an anticoagulant for the extracorporeal circuit. It is also developing LTX-608, an anti-inflammatory and antiviral potential for the treatment of multiple conditions, including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and acute pancreatitis; Fedsyra, a pre-filled ephedrine syringe; and PFS-02, a pre-filled phenylephrine syringe. The company was formerly known as AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Talphera, Inc. in January 2024. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.