Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIRM) and Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT) Financial Survey

Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT) and Mirum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIRM) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

49.0% of Assertio shares are held by institutional investors. 3.2% of Assertio shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.9% of Mirum Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Assertio has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mirum Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its stock price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Assertio and Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assertio	-234.40%	10.80%	5.74%
Mirum Pharmaceuticals	-69.67%	-56.46%	-19.61%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Assertio and Mirum Pharmaceuticals’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assertio	$132.19 million	0.77	-$331.94 million	($3.95)	-0.27
Mirum Pharmaceuticals	$264.38 million	7.40	-$163.41 million	($3.71)	-11.18

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Assertio and Mirum Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assertio	0	0	4	0	3.00
Mirum Pharmaceuticals	0	0	10	2	3.17

Assertio currently has a consensus target price of $3.44, suggesting a potential upside of 221.26%. Mirum Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $56.27, suggesting a potential upside of 35.63%. Given Assertio’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Assertio is more favorable than Mirum Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Mirum Pharmaceuticals beats Assertio on 10 of the 15 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 Mirum Pharmaceuticals

Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of novel therapies for debilitating rare and orphan diseases. Its lead product candidate is LIVMARLI (maralixibat), an orally administered and minimally absorbed ileal bile acid transporter (IBAT) inhibitor that is approved for the treatment of cholestatic pruritus in patients with Alagille syndrome in the United States and internationally. The company is also involved in the commercialization of Cholbam, a cholic acid capsule, which is approved as treatment for pediatric and adult patients with bile acid synthesis disorders due to single enzyme defects and for adjunctive treatment of patients with peroxisomal disorders, including peroxisome biogenesis disorder-Zellweger spectrum disorder and Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome; and Chenodal, a tablet, which is approved for the treatment of radiolucent stones in the gallbladder, and under Phase 3 development for the treatment cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis. In addition, it develops Volixibat, an oral and minimally absorbed agent designed to inhibit IBAT, currently under Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of adult patients with cholestatic liver diseases. The company was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.