Financial Analysis: Viracta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRX) & Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX)

Viracta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRX) and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viracta Therapeutics	0	2	2	0	2.50
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals	0	1	12	0	2.92

Viracta Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $4.06, suggesting a potential upside of 23,797.06%. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $73.00, suggesting a potential upside of 137.94%. Given Viracta Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Viracta Therapeutics is more favorable than Crinetics Pharmaceuticals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

31.4% of Viracta Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.5% of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.7% of Viracta Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Viracta Therapeutics and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viracta Therapeutics	N/A	-1,899.61%	-114.21%
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-36.12%	-31.89%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Viracta Therapeutics and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals”s gross 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	($1.10)	-0.02
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals	$1.04 million	2,764.71	-$214.53 million	($3.71)	-8.27

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

Risk and Volatility

Viracta Therapeutics has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Crinetics Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.31, indicating that its stock price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. The company's lead product candidate is paltusotine, an oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, which is in Phase 3 trial for the treatment of acromegaly; and Phase 2 trial for treating carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors. It is also developing CRN04894, an investigational oral nonpeptide product candidate to antagonize the adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) receptor that has completed a Phase 1 study for the treatment of diseases caused by excess ACTH, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing's disease. In addition, the company is developing antagonists of the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor for the treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism and humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy, and other diseases of excess PTH; identified investigational orally available somatostatin receptor type 3 targeted nonpeptide agonists for the treatment of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease; and developing thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antagonists for the treatment of graves' disease and thyroid eye disease, as well as Oral GLP-1 and GIP nonpeptides for the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.