Financial Review: Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) & Moleculin Biotech (NASDAQ:MBRX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) and Moleculin Biotech (NASDAQ:MBRX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ardelyx and Moleculin Biotech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardelyx	0	2	5	1	2.88
Moleculin Biotech	0	0	2	0	3.00

Ardelyx currently has a consensus target price of $10.42, suggesting a potential upside of 116.11%. Moleculin Biotech has a consensus target price of $24.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1,337.13%. Given Moleculin Biotech’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Moleculin Biotech is more favorable than Ardelyx.

Profitability

This table compares Ardelyx and Moleculin Biotech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardelyx	-28.82%	-46.60%	-21.49%
Moleculin Biotech	N/A	-157.44%	-97.16%

Risk and Volatility

Ardelyx has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moleculin Biotech has a beta of 1.87, suggesting that its share price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ardelyx and Moleculin Biotech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardelyx	$251.85 million	4.53	-$66.07 million	($0.30)	-16.07
Moleculin Biotech	N/A	N/A	-$29.77 million	N/A	N/A

Moleculin Biotech has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ardelyx.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.9% of Ardelyx shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.5% of Moleculin Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Ardelyx shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Moleculin Biotech shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines to treat gastrointestinal and cardiorenal therapeutic areas in the United States and internationally. The company’s lead product candidate is tenapanor for the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. It also develops XPHOZAH, which is in Phase III clinical trial to reduce serum phosphorus in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD)on dialysis, or hyperphosphatemia; RDX013, a potassium secretagogue, for the treatment of elevated serum potassium, or hyperkalemia, a problem among patients with kidney and/or heart failure; and RDX020, for adult patients with metabolic acidosis, a serious electrolyte disorder. The company has agreements with Kyowa Kirin, Fosun Pharmaceutical Industrial Development Co. Ltd., and Knight Therapeutics, Inc. for the development and commercialization of tenapanor in their respective territories. The company was formerly known as Nteryx, Inc. and changed its name to Ardelyx, Inc. in June 2008. Ardelyx, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Moleculin Biotech

Moleculin Biotech, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of drug candidates for the treatment of cancers and viruses. Its lead drug candidate is Annamycin, which is in Phase 1B/2 clinical trials for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and soft tissue sarcoma metastasized to the lungs. The company is also developing WP1066, an immune/transcription modulator designed to inhibit phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription and other oncogenic transcription factors targeting brain tumors, and pancreatic and other cancers. In addition, it develops WP1220, an analog of WP1066 for the topical treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; and WP1122 to treat viruses, as well as cancer indications, including brain tumors, and pancreatic and other cancers. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.