Financial Analysis: MeiraGTx (NASDAQ:MGTX) versus Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) and MeiraGTx (NASDAQ:MGTX) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Ascendis Pharma A/S and MeiraGTx, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascendis Pharma A/S	0	1	17	2	3.05
MeiraGTx	1	0	5	2	3.00

Ascendis Pharma A/S presently has a consensus target price of $310.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.64%. MeiraGTx has a consensus target price of $26.17, indicating a potential upside of 104.59%. Given MeiraGTx’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe MeiraGTx is more favorable than Ascendis Pharma A/S.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and MeiraGTx”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$814.57 million	20.18	-$258.00 million	$12.89	20.44
MeiraGTx	$81.39 million	15.09	-$114.20 million	$0.71	18.01

MeiraGTx has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ascendis Pharma A/S. MeiraGTx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ascendis Pharma A/S, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MeiraGTx has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.5% of MeiraGTx shares are held by institutional investors. 40.0% of Ascendis Pharma A/S shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of MeiraGTx shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and MeiraGTx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascendis Pharma A/S	70.99%	32.54%	7.71%
MeiraGTx	19.87%	283.85%	29.39%

Summary

Ascendis Pharma A/S beats MeiraGTx on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark.

About MeiraGTx

MeiraGTx Holdings plc, a clinical stage gene therapy company, focusing on developing treatments for patients with serious diseases. The company develops various therapies for ocular diseases, including inherited retinal diseases and large degenerative ocular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and xerostomia. Its programs in clinical development include Phase I/II clinical stage programs in achromatopsia, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, and RPE65-deficiency; Phase I clinical trials for radiation-induced xerostomia; and Parkinson's program that has completed a Phase II trial. It has a research collaboration agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the research, development, and commercialization of gene therapies for the treatment of inherited retinal disease. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in New York, New York.