Analyzing Scilex (SCLX) & Its Competitors

Scilex (NASDAQ:SCLX) is one of 285 publicly-traded companies in the “Biological products, except diagnostic” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Scilex to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, dividends and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Scilex and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scilex	$46.74 million	-$114.33 million	-1.25
Scilex Competitors	$586.69 million	-$30.20 million	7.35

Scilex’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Scilex. Scilex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

Scilex has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scilex’s competitors have a beta of 1.05, meaning that their average stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Scilex and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scilex	0	0	2	0	3.00
Scilex Competitors	1446	4592	11873	202	2.60

Scilex currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 396.89%. As a group, “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies have a potential upside of 101.90%. Given Scilex’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Scilex is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Scilex and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scilex	-244.60%	-437.77%	-112.17%
Scilex Competitors	-4,146.71%	-130.83%	-42.89%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

69.7% of Scilex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.9% of shares of all “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Scilex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.8% of shares of all “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Scilex competitors beat Scilex on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Scilex Company Profile

Scilex Holding Company focuses on acquiring, developing, and commercializing non-opioid pain management products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Its commercial products include ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% (ZTlido), a prescription lidocaine topical product for the relief of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a form of post-shingles nerve pain; ELYXYB, a ready-to-use oral solution for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults; and GLOPERBA, a liquid oral version of the anti-gout medicine colchicine indicated for the prophylaxis of painful gout flares in adults. The company is also developing three product candidates, including SP-102 (10 mg dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel) (SEMDEXA), a novel viscous gel formulation of a used corticosteroid for epidural injections, which has completed a Phase 3 study to treat lumbosacral radicular pain or sciatica; SP-103 (lidocaine topical system) 5.4% (SP-103), a formulation of ZTlido for the treatment of chronic neck pain and low back pain (LBP) that has completed a Phase 2 trial; and SP-104 (4.5 mg low-dose naltrexone hydrochloride delayed-release capsules) (SP-104), a novel low-dose delayed-release naltrexone hydrochloride, which has completed Phase 1 trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.