Head to Head Review: Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) versus Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SAGE)

Sage Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SAGE) and Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.2% of Sage Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Sage Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sage Therapeutics and Nuvation Bio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sage Therapeutics	-971.50%	-68.18%	-60.84%
Nuvation Bio	N/A	-21.89%	-17.86%

Volatility and Risk

Sage Therapeutics has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuvation Bio has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its share price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Sage Therapeutics and Nuvation Bio, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sage Therapeutics	2	16	2	0	2.00
Nuvation Bio	0	0	5	0	3.00

Sage Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $9.65, suggesting a potential upside of 29.60%. Nuvation Bio has a consensus price target of $8.20, suggesting a potential upside of 282.28%. Given Nuvation Bio’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Nuvation Bio is more favorable than Sage Therapeutics.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Sage Therapeutics and Nuvation Bio”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sage Therapeutics	$41.24 million	11.10	-$400.67 million	($6.59)	-1.13
Nuvation Bio	N/A	N/A	-$75.80 million	($2.17)	-0.99

Nuvation Bio has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Sage Therapeutics. Sage Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nuvation Bio, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Nuvation Bio beats Sage Therapeutics on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sage Therapeutics

Sage Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes brain health medicines. Its product candidates include ZULRESSO, a CIV injection for the treatment of postpartum depression (PPD) in adults; and ZURZUVAE, a neuroactive steroid, a positive allosteric modulator of GABAA receptors, targeting both synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAA receptors, for the treatment of postpartum depression. Its product pipeline also comprises SAGE-324, a compound that is in Phase II clinical trial to treat essential tremors, as well as has completed Phase I clinical trial for epilepsy and Parkinson's diseases; and SAGE-718, an oxysterol-based positive allosteric modulator of the NMDA receptor, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of depression, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's diseases, Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, and neuropathic pain. The company has a strategic collaboration with Shionogi & Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of zuranolone in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea; and a collaboration and license agreement with Biogen MA Inc. to jointly develop and commercialize SAGE-217 and SAGE-324 products. The company was formerly known as Sterogen Biopharma, Inc. and changed its name to Sage Therapeutics, Inc. in September 2011. Sage Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Nuvation Bio

Nuvation Bio Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of therapeutic candidates for oncology. The company's lead product candidate is NUV-868, a BD2 selective oral small molecule BET inhibitor that epigenetically regulates proteins that control tumor growth and differentiation, including oncogenes comprising c-myc; NUV-1156, an AR binder Xtandi that address advanced stage prostate cancers with the potential to move into earlier lines typically treated with surgical prostatectomy; and drug-drug conjugate (DDC) platform which leverages a novel therapeutic approach within the drug-conjugate class of anti-cancer therapies to deliver anti-cancer therapeutics to cancer cells, as well as NUV-1176, a PARP inhibitor to address ER+ breast and ovarian cancer. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York, New York.