Reviewing Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTX) & Spruce Biosciences (NASDAQ:SPRB)

Anthem (NASDAQ:ANTX) and Spruce Biosciences (NASDAQ:SPRB) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Anthem has a beta of -0.98, meaning that its stock price is 198% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Spruce Biosciences has a beta of 3.11, meaning that its stock price is 211% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.5% of Anthem shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.7% of Spruce Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.5% of Anthem shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Spruce Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Anthem and Spruce Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Anthem	N/A	-52.35%	-47.25%
Spruce Biosciences	N/A	-155.40%	-101.67%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Anthem and Spruce Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Anthem	1	0	1	0	2.00
Spruce Biosciences	1	2	5	0	2.50

Anthem currently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 115.11%. Spruce Biosciences has a consensus target price of $176.60, indicating a potential upside of 232.14%. Given Spruce Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Spruce Biosciences is more favorable than Anthem.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Anthem and Spruce Biosciences”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Anthem	N/A	N/A	-$35.17 million	($1.10)	-3.80
Spruce Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$38.97 million	($36.60)	-1.45

Anthem is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Spruce Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Spruce Biosciences beats Anthem on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Anthem

Anthem, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Commercial & Specialty Business, Government Business, and Other. The company offers a spectrum of network-based managed care health benefit plans to large and small group, individual, Medicaid, and Medicare markets. Its managed care plans include preferred provider organizations; health maintenance organizations; point-of-service plans; traditional indemnity plans and other hybrid plans, such as consumer-driven health plans; and hospital only and limited benefit products. The company also provides a range of managed care services to self-funded customers, including claims processing, underwriting, stop loss insurance, actuarial services, provider network access, medical cost management, disease management, wellness programs, and other administrative services. In addition, it offers an array of specialty and other insurance products and services, such as dental, vision, life and disability insurance benefits, radiology benefit management, and analytics-driven personal health care guidance; and Medicare administrative services. Further, the company provides services to the federal government in connection with the Federal Employee Program; and operates as a licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. As of December 31, 2017, it served 40.2 million medical members through its affiliated health plans. The company was formerly known as WellPoint, Inc. and changed its name to Anthem, Inc. in December 2014. Anthem, Inc. was founded in 1944 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Spruce Biosciences

Spruce Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel therapies for rare endocrine disorders. The company engages in developing tildacerfont, a non-steroidal therapy to enhance disease control and reduce steroid burden for patients suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), which is in Phase 2b clinical trial; and to evaluate glucocorticoid reduction in adult patients with classic CAH that is Phase 2b clinical trial. It is also developing tildacerfont for the treatment of pediatric classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia in children that is in Phase 2 clinical trial; and for females with polycystic ovary syndrome, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial. Spruce Biosciences, Inc. has a license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company to research, develop, and commercialize compounds for various pharmaceutical uses; and collaboration and license agreement with Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to develop, manufacture, and commercialize tildacerfont for the treatment of CAH in Japan. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.