Analyzing Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) and Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

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

Risk and Volatility

Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 40.0% of Ascendis Pharma A/S shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Denali Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and Denali Therapeutics’ 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%
Denali Therapeutics	N/A	-55.27%	-44.24%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Ascendis Pharma A/S and Denali Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascendis Pharma A/S	0	1	18	1	3.00
Denali Therapeutics	1	2	13	0	2.75

Ascendis Pharma A/S currently has a consensus target price of $309.26, suggesting a potential upside of 36.47%. Denali Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $35.85, suggesting a potential upside of 95.45%. Given Denali Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Denali Therapeutics is more favorable than Ascendis Pharma A/S.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and Denali Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$814.57 million	17.35	-$258.00 million	$12.89	17.58
Denali Therapeutics	$330.53 million	8.87	-$512.54 million	($2.84)	-6.46

Ascendis Pharma A/S has higher revenue and earnings than Denali Therapeutics. Denali Therapeutics 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.

Summary

Ascendis Pharma A/S beats Denali Therapeutics on 11 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 Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson’s disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.