Reviewing Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) & ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX)

ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for ESSA Pharma and Ligand Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESSA Pharma	0	3	0	0	2.00
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	0	0	6	0	3.00

ESSA Pharma presently has a consensus target price of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 452.33%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $147.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.31%. Given ESSA Pharma’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ESSA Pharma is more favorable than Ligand Pharmaceuticals.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.1% of ESSA Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.5% of ESSA Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

ESSA Pharma has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ESSA Pharma and Ligand Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Pharma	N/A	-21.64%	-21.02%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	29.68%	4.95%	4.39%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ESSA Pharma and Ligand Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESSA Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$28.54 million	($0.64)	-2.69
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	$152.42 million	14.54	$52.15 million	$2.51	46.74

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than ESSA Pharma. ESSA Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ligand Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ligand Pharmaceuticals beats ESSA Pharma on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ESSA Pharma

ESSA Pharma Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, focuses the development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company’s lead candidate EPI-7386, an androgen receptor based resistance mechanisms that develop in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. It has collaboration agreements with Bayer Consumer Care AG; Janssen Research & Development, LLC; and Astellas Pharma Inc. ESSA Pharma Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets worldwide. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Rylaze, a recombinant erwinia asparaginase for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients; Filspari, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist in development for rare kidney diseases and non-immunosuppressive treatment indicated for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Teriparatide injection product for osteoporosis; Vaxneuvance for the prevention of invasive disease caused by streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes; and Pneumosil, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia among children. The company also offers TZIELD, a CD3-directed antibody indicated to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes (T1D) in adults and children aged 8 years and older with Stage 2 T1D; Nexterone, a captisol-enabled formulation of amiodarone; Zulresso, a captisol-enabled formulation of brexanolone for the treatment of postpartum depression; and Veklury, an antiviral treatment for moderate or severe COVID-19. In addition, it provides Noxafil-IV, a captisol-enabled formulation of posaconazole for IV use; Duavee for the treatment of post-menopausal symptoms in women; Exemptia for autoimmune diseases; Vivitra for breast cancer; and Bryxta and Zybev for various indications. The company has alliances, licenses, and other business relationships with Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Jazz, Takeda, Gilead Sciences, and Baxter International. Further, it sells Captisol materials. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Jupiter, Florida.