Critical Comparison: Phio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHIO) & CASI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CASI)

CASI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CASI) and Phio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHIO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for CASI Pharmaceuticals and Phio Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CASI Pharmaceuticals	1	0	1	0	2.00
Phio Pharmaceuticals	1	0	1	0	2.00

CASI Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 426.32%. Phio Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,272.55%. Given Phio Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Phio Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than CASI Pharmaceuticals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

22.2% of CASI Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.3% of Phio Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.2% of CASI Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Phio 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 CASI Pharmaceuticals and Phio Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CASI Pharmaceuticals	-183.93%	-972.55%	-131.54%
Phio Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-86.38%	-75.77%

Volatility and Risk

CASI Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Phio Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.92, indicating that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CASI Pharmaceuticals and Phio Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CASI Pharmaceuticals	$28.54 million	0.33	-$39.26 million	($3.01)	-0.25
Phio Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$7.15 million	($2.15)	-0.47

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

Summary

Phio Pharmaceuticals beats CASI Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CASI Pharmaceuticals

CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes therapeutics and pharmaceutical products in the People's Republic of China, the United States, and internationally. It offers EVOMELA, an intravenous formulation of melphalan for use as a conditioning treatment prior to stem cell transplantation, and as a palliative treatment for patients with multiple myeloma. The company's other hematology/oncology assets in pipeline include CNCT 19, an autologous CD19 CAR-T investigative product; BI-1206, novel anti-Fc?RIIB antibody, for the treatment of solid tumors and relapsed/refractory non-hodgkin lymphoma; CB-5339, a novel VCP/p97 inhibitor that focuses on valosin-containing protein (VCP)/p97 as a novel target in protein homeostasis, DNA damage response, and other cellular stress pathways for therapeutic use in the treatment of patients with various malignancies; CID-103, a human IgG1 anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody; and Thiotepa, a chemotherapeutic agent, which has various indications, including use as a conditioning treatment for use prior to certain allogeneic haemopoietic stem cell transplants. The company has licensing agreements with Juventas Cell Therapy Ltd.; BioInvent International AB; Black Belt Therapeutics Limited; Cleave Therapeutics, Inc.; and Acrotech Biopharma L.L.C. to develop and commercialize its commercial product EVOMELA. It also has distribution agreements with China Resources Pharmaceutical Commercial Group International Trading Co., Ltd; Pharmathen Global BV; and Riemser Pharma GmbH. CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is based in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.

About Phio Pharmaceuticals

Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. engages in the development of immuno-oncology therapeutics in the United States. The company is developing PH-762, an INTASYL compound in Phase 1b dose-escalating clinical trials to reduce the expression of cell death protein 1 (PD-1), a protein that inhibits T cells’ ability to kill cancer cells; and PH-762 treated double positive tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials to treat advanced melanoma and other advanced solid tumors. It is also developing PH-894, an INTASYL compound in IND enabling studies to silence BRD4, a protein that controls gene expression in both T cells and tumor cells, effecting the immune system and the tumor. The company was formerly known as RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. in November 2018. Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts.