ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) Critical Contrast

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	$1.07 billion	4.43	$391.00 million	$2.22	12.41
Zenas BioPharma	$10.00 million	210.66	-$377.74 million	($8.99)	-3.60

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Zenas BioPharma. Zenas BioPharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.7% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 26.2% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Zenas BioPharma shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	33.42%	9.03%	6.79%
Zenas BioPharma	N/A	-122.45%	-58.04%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	0	4	14	0	2.78
Zenas BioPharma	1	2	6	0	2.56

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $34.36, suggesting a potential upside of 24.77%. Zenas BioPharma has a consensus target price of $45.71, suggesting a potential upside of 41.44%. Given Zenas BioPharma’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Zenas BioPharma is more favorable than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals.

Risk and Volatility

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zenas BioPharma has a beta of -1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 204% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals beats Zenas BioPharma on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome. It also develops Pimavanserin that is in Phase III ADVANCE-2 study to treat the negative symptoms of schizophrenia; ACP-101 whixh is in Phase III for the treatment of hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome; ACP-204 which is in Phase II for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis; ACP-2591 that is in Phase I for Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome; preclinical antisense oligonucleotide programs; and other programs for neuropsychiatric symptoms. It has a license agreement with Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited to develop and commercialize trofinetide for Rett syndrome and other indications; and a license and collaboration agreement with Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. to discover, develop and commercialize novel RNA-based medicines for the potential treatment of severe and rare genetic neurodevelopmental diseases of the CNS. The company was formerly known as Receptor Technologies, Inc. and changed its name ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1997. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and commercialization of transformative immunology-based therapies for patients. The company was founded by Lonnie O. Moulder Jr on November 12, 2019 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.