Critical Comparison: Viracta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRX) and Harrow (NASDAQ:HROW)

Viracta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRX) and Harrow (NASDAQ:HROW) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Viracta Therapeutics and Harrow, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viracta Therapeutics	0	1	3	0	2.75
Harrow	0	0	3	0	3.00

Viracta Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 2,344.44%. Harrow has a consensus price target of $56.67, indicating a potential upside of 11.75%. Given Viracta Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Viracta Therapeutics is more favorable than Harrow.

Volatility & Risk

Viracta Therapeutics has a beta of 0.7, indicating that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Harrow has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

31.4% of Viracta Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.8% of Harrow shares are held by institutional investors. 10.7% of Viracta Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of Harrow shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Viracta Therapeutics and Harrow”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viracta Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$51.06 million	($1.23)	-0.18
Harrow	$130.19 million	13.82	-$24.41 million	($0.95)	-53.38

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

Profitability

This table compares Viracta Therapeutics and Harrow’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viracta Therapeutics	N/A	-449.60%	-92.47%
Harrow	-21.78%	-40.59%	-8.93%

Summary

Harrow beats Viracta Therapeutics on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Viracta Therapeutics

Viracta Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage precision oncology company, focuses on the treatment and prevention of virus-associated cancers that impact patients worldwide. Its lead product candidate is Nana-val, an all-oral combination therapy of its proprietary investigational drug, nanatinostat, and the antiviral agent valganciclovir. The company's Nana-val is in various ongoing clinical trials, including NAVAL-1, an open-label Phase 2 basket trial for the treatment of multiple subtypes of relapsed/refractory Epstein-Barr virus-positive (EBV+) lymphoma, as well as an open-label Phase 1b/2 trial for the treatment of EBV+ recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma and other EBV+ solid tumors. Its product pipeline also includes vecabrutinib, a clinical-stage product candidate; and VRx-510, a preclinical product candidate. The company is headquartered in Cardiff, California.

About Harrow

Harrow, Inc. operates as an ophthalmic-focused healthcare company. The company owns ImprimisRx, an ophthalmology outsourcing and pharmaceutical compounding business. The company was formerly known as Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Harrow Health, Inc. in December 2018. Harrow Health, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.