Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN – Get Free Report) and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TARS – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.
Profitability
This table compares Astrazeneca and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Astrazeneca | 17.02% | 31.45% | 13.20% |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals | -7.67% | -13.53% | -8.12% |
Risk and Volatility
Astrazeneca has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tarsus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its stock price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Astrazeneca | 1 | 3 | 14 | 0 | 2.72 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 2.80 |
Astrazeneca currently has a consensus target price of $206.67, indicating a potential upside of 25.77%. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $100.86, indicating a potential upside of 31.51%. Given Tarsus Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Astrazeneca.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
20.4% of Astrazeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 9.6% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Astrazeneca and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Astrazeneca | $58.74 billion | 4.34 | $10.22 billion | $6.69 | 24.56 |
| Tarsus Pharmaceuticals | $451.36 million | 7.46 | -$66.42 million | ($1.09) | -70.36 |
Astrazeneca has higher revenue and earnings than Tarsus Pharmaceuticals. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Astrazeneca, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Astrazeneca beats Tarsus Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Astrazeneca
AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company’s marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
About Tarsus Pharmaceuticals
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic candidates for eye care in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is XDEMVY, a novel therapeutic for the treatment of blepharitis caused by the infestation of Demodex mites, as well as to treat meibomian gland disease. It is developing TP-04 for the treatment of rosacea; and TP-05 for Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction. In addition, the company develops lotilaner to address diseases across therapeutic categories in human medicine, including eye care, dermatology, and other infectious disease prevention. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.
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