Head to Head Review: Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) and Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD)

Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD) and Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Opus Genetics and Alkermes, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Opus Genetics	1	1	16	1	2.89
Alkermes	1	5	12	1	2.68

Opus Genetics currently has a consensus price target of $12.71, suggesting a potential upside of 282.96%. Alkermes has a consensus price target of $54.47, suggesting a potential upside of 22.57%. Given Opus Genetics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Opus Genetics is more favorable than Alkermes.

Volatility & Risk

Opus Genetics has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alkermes has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Opus Genetics and Alkermes”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Opus Genetics	$14.20 million	19.32	-$49.59 million	($1.35)	-2.46
Alkermes	$1.48 billion	5.05	$241.66 million	$0.38	116.95

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

Profitability

This table compares Opus Genetics and Alkermes’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Opus Genetics	-1,091.82%	N/A	-150.13%
Alkermes	3.96%	4.15%	2.19%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

15.0% of Opus Genetics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.2% of Alkermes shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.7% of Opus Genetics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Alkermes shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Alkermes beats Opus Genetics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Opus Genetics

Opus Genetics Inc. is a clinical-stage ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of unmet needs of patients with refractive and retinal eye disorders. Opus Genetics Inc., formerly known as Ocuphire Pharma Inc., is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

About Alkermes

Alkermes plc, a biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products to address unmet medical needs of patients in therapeutic areas in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and a pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates in development for neurological disorders. Its marketed products include ARISTADA, an intramuscular injectable suspension for the treatment of schizophrenia; ARISTADA INITIO for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults; VIVITROL for the treatment of alcohol and prevention of opioid dependence; and LYBALVI, an oral atypical antipsychotic drug candidate for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. It has collaboration agreements primarily with Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc, and Janssen Pharmaceutica International. The company also offers proprietary technology platforms to third parties to enable them to develop, commercialize, and manufacture products. Alkermes plc was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.