Head to Head Analysis: PaxMedica (NASDAQ:PXMD) & Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR)

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) and PaxMedica (NASDAQ:PXMD) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and valuation.

Risk & Volatility

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its stock price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PaxMedica has a beta of -0.62, indicating that its stock price is 162% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.6% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.9% of PaxMedica shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of PaxMedica shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and PaxMedica”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	$240.74 million	9.82	-$205.27 million	($4.67)	-4.07
PaxMedica	N/A	N/A	-$18.29 million	N/A	N/A

PaxMedica has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and PaxMedica, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	0	3	7	0	2.70
PaxMedica	0	0	1	0	3.00

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $45.33, suggesting a potential upside of 138.35%. PaxMedica has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2,762.60%. Given PaxMedica’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe PaxMedica is more favorable than Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and PaxMedica’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-152.95%	-63.93%
PaxMedica	N/A	-3,167.89%	-560.35%

Summary

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals beats PaxMedica on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops medicines for the treatment of intractable diseases in the United States. The company's products in pipeline includes Plozasiran, which is in Phase 2b and one Phase 3 clinical trial to treat hypertriglyceridemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and chylomicronemia syndrome; Zodasiran that is in Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia; ARO-PNPLA3, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; ARO-RAGE that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat inflammatory pulmonary conditions; and ARO-MUC5AC, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat muco-obstructive pulmonary diseases. It also develops ARO-MMP7 that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; ARO-DUX4 for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy; ARO-SOD1 for the potential treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and ARO-C3, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial for the treatment of patients with various complement mediated or complement associated renal diseases. In addition, the company is involved in the development of JNJ-3989, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat chronic hepatitis B virus infection; Olpasiran that is in Phase 3 clinical trial to reduce the production of apolipoprotein A; GSK-4532990 that is in phase 2 clinical trial to treat liver diseases; HZN-457, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat uncontrolled gout; and Fazirsiran that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment for liver disease associated with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has license and research collaboration agreements with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Horizon Therapeutics Ireland DAC; Amgen Inc.; and Glaxosmithkline Intellectual Property (No. 3) Limited. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.

About PaxMedica

PaxMedica, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of anti-purinergic drug therapies for the treatment of disorders with intractable neurologic symptoms. Its lead product candidate is PAX-101 that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, an intravenous formulation of suramin for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, long COVID-19 syndrome, fragile X syndrome, human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), and fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome. The company is developing PAX-102, an intranasal formulation of suramin for neurologic indications, as well as other new chemical entities that are targeted and selective antagonists of purine receptor subtypes; and PAX-HAT-301 for the treatment of HAT. It has a research collaboration agreement with PolarMar Health for Phase II clinical trial in austism spectrum disorder for emodin, which retains the rights for PolarMar to develop and commercialize any non-prescription supplement form of the product, and for PaxMedica, Inc. to retain exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a highly purified form of emodin. The company was formerly known as Purinix Pharmaceuticals LLC and changed its name to PaxMedica, Inc. in April 2020. PaxMedica, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is based in Tarrytown, New York.