Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) and Palatin Technologies (NYSE:PTN) Financial Analysis

Nature’s Sunshine Products (NASDAQ:NATR) and Palatin Technologies (NYSE:PTN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.4% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Palatin Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.7% of Nature’s Sunshine Products shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Palatin Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and Palatin Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nature’s Sunshine Products	$456.62 million	0.58	$15.08 million	$0.53	27.25
Palatin Technologies	$350,000.00	6.99	-$40.31 million	($1.55)	-0.06

Nature’s Sunshine Products has higher revenue and earnings than Palatin Technologies. Palatin Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nature’s Sunshine Products, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Nature’s Sunshine Products and Palatin Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nature’s Sunshine Products	0	0	3	0	3.00
Palatin Technologies	0	0	0	0	0.00

Nature’s Sunshine Products currently has a consensus price target of $18.33, indicating a potential upside of 26.96%. Given Nature’s Sunshine Products’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Nature’s Sunshine Products is more favorable than Palatin Technologies.

Risk and Volatility

Nature’s Sunshine Products has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palatin Technologies has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nature’s Sunshine Products and Palatin Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nature’s Sunshine Products	3.81%	11.08%	7.23%
Palatin Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Nature’s Sunshine Products beats Palatin Technologies on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nature’s Sunshine Products

Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc., a natural health and wellness company, manufactures and sells nutritional and personal care products in Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, and internationally. It offers general health products related to blood sugar support, bone health, cellular health, cognitive function, joint health, mood, sexual health, sleep, sports and energy, and vision. The company also provides immunity, cardiovascular, and digestive products; and personal care products, such as oils and lotions, aloe vera gels, herbal shampoos, herbal skin treatment, toothpaste, and skin cleansers, as well as weight management products. It offers its products under the Nature’s Sunshine and Synergy WorldWide brands through a sales force of independent consultants. Nature’s Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Lehi, Utah.

About Palatin Technologies

Palatin Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted receptor-specific therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases in the United States. The company’s lead product is Vyleesi, a melanocortin receptor (MCr) agonist for the treatment of premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. It is also developing oral PL8177, a selective MC1r agonist peptide that has completed Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, the company engages in the development of PL9643, a peptide melanocortin agonist active at multiple MCrs, including MC1r and MC5r for anti-inflammatory ocular indications, such as dry eye disease; and melanocortin peptides for diabetic retinopathy. Further, it is developing PL3994, a natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR)-A agonist and synthetic mimetic of the endogenous neuropeptide hormone atrial natriuretic peptide for cardiovascular indications; and PL5028, an NPR-A and NPR-binder to treat cardiovascular and fibrotic diseases, including reducing cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. The company was incorporated in 1986 and is based in Cranbury, New Jersey.