Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT – Get Free Report) and Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Assertio and Verrica Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Assertio | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1.80 |
| Verrica Pharmaceuticals | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Assertio presently has a consensus price target of $22.65, indicating a potential downside of 3.08%. Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 188.14%. Given Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Verrica Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Assertio.
Volatility & Risk
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Assertio and Verrica Pharmaceuticals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Assertio | $118.71 million | 1.27 | -$30.38 million | ($5.69) | -4.11 |
| Verrica Pharmaceuticals | $35.58 million | 2.85 | -$17.89 million | ($1.03) | -5.73 |
Verrica Pharmaceuticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Assertio. Verrica Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assertio, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Assertio and Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Assertio | -34.94% | -38.72% | -13.32% |
| Verrica Pharmaceuticals | -47.97% | -1,077.78% | -40.76% |
Insider and Institutional Ownership
49.0% of Assertio shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.5% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Assertio shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 54.0% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Verrica Pharmaceuticals beats Assertio on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Assertio
Assertio Holdings, Inc., a commercial pharmaceutical company, provides various products to patients in the United States. Its pharmaceutical products include INDOCIN, an oral and suppository solution for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, including acute flares of chronic disease; ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis; and acute painful shoulder and gouty arthritis. It also provides Sympazan, a benzodiazepine for the adjunctive treatment of seizures related with lennox-gastaut syndrome in patients aged two years of age or older; CAMBIA, a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug (NSAID) for the treatment of migraine pain, nausea, photophobia, and phonophobia; Zipsor, a NSAID for relief of mild to moderate pain in adults; SPRIX, a NSAID for the short term management of moderate to moderately severe pain that requires analgesia at the opioid level; Otrexup, a single-dose auto-injector containing a prescription medicine and methotrexate that is used to treat patients with severe, active rheumatoid arthritis, and active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, as well as treat adult with severe, recalcitrant, and disabling psoriasis; and ROLVEDON, a long-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor that is indicated to decrease the incidence of infection caused by febrile neutropenia. The company was formerly known as Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Assertio Holdings, Inc. in May 2020. Assertio Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois.
About Verrica Pharmaceuticals
Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts. The company also develops VP-315, an oncolytic peptide-based injectable therapy, which is in phase II clinical trial for the treatment of dermatology oncologic conditions which includes basal cell carcinoma; and VP-103, a cantharidin-based product candidate for the treatment of plantar warts and is in phase II clinical trial. In addition, it offers YCANTH for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum. The company has a collaboration and license agreement with Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of its product candidates for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum and common warts in Japan, including VP-102; and a license agreement with Lytix Biopharma AS to develop and commercialize VP-315 for dermatological oncology indications, such as non-metastatic melanoma and non-metastatic merkel cell carcinoma. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
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