Critical Contrast: Medicure (OTCMKTS:MCUJF) and Xeris Biopharma (NASDAQ:XERS)

Medicure (OTCMKTS:MCUJF) and Xeris Biopharma (NASDAQ:XERS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Medicure has a beta of 1.06, meaning that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xeris Biopharma has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Medicure and Xeris Biopharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medicure	-13.10%	-17.91%	-11.95%
Xeris Biopharma	-5.88%	N/A	-4.66%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

42.8% of Xeris Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.9% of Medicure shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Xeris Biopharma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Medicure and Xeris Biopharma, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medicure	0	0	0	0	0.00
Xeris Biopharma	1	2	5	0	2.50

Xeris Biopharma has a consensus price target of $10.08, suggesting a potential upside of 39.66%. Given Xeris Biopharma’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Xeris Biopharma is more favorable than Medicure.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Medicure and Xeris Biopharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medicure	$15.99 million	0.59	-$760,000.00	($0.24)	-3.78
Xeris Biopharma	$203.07 million	5.90	-$54.84 million	($0.10)	-72.20

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

Summary

Xeris Biopharma beats Medicure on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medicure

Medicure Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, and commercialization of human therapies for the cardiovascular market. The company markets and distributes AGGRASTAT injection, a glycoprotein GP IIb/IIIa receptor antagonist for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome, including unstable angina and non-Q-wave myocardial infarction. It also offers ZYPITAMAG to treat patients with primary hyperlipidemia or mixed dyslipidemia. In addition, the company offers Sodium Nitroprusside injection for the reduction of blood pressure for adult and pediatric patients in hypertensive crisis, as well as for producing controlled hypotension to reduce bleeding during surgery, and for the treatment of acute congestive heart failure. It offers products through retail and mail order pharmacies. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada.

About Xeris Biopharma

Xeris Biopharma Holdings, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies in Illinois. The company offers Gvoke, a ready-to-use liquid-stable glucagon for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia pediatric and adult patients; Keveyis, a therapy for the treatment of hyperkalemic, hypokalemic, and related variants of primary periodic paralysis; and Recorlev, a cortisol synthesis inhibitor proved for the treatment of endogenous hypercortisolemia in adult patients with Cushing's syndrome. It is also developing XP-8121, a once-weekly subcutaneous injection of levothyroxine that is in phase I clinical trial for the treatment of hypothyroidism; and non-aqueous XeriSol and XeriJect technologies for various therapies. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.