Contrasting Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) & Exicure (NASDAQ:XCUR)

Exicure (NASDAQ:XCUR) and Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Exicure and Applied Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exicure	1	0	0	0	1.00
Applied Therapeutics	1	2	0	0	1.67

Applied Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $1.00, suggesting a potential upside of 870.87%. Given Applied Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Applied Therapeutics is more favorable than Exicure.

Risk & Volatility

Exicure has a beta of 3.63, suggesting that its share price is 263% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Therapeutics has a beta of 2.08, suggesting that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Exicure and Applied Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exicure	N/A	-237.91%	-61.98%
Applied Therapeutics	N/A	-340.84%	-175.00%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

42.8% of Exicure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.3% of Applied Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 52.8% of Exicure shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Applied Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Exicure and Applied Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exicure	$500,000.00	16.89	-$4.95 million	($1.32)	-0.98
Applied Therapeutics	$1.00 million	15.86	-$105.62 million	($0.10)	-1.03

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

Summary

Exicure beats Applied Therapeutics on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exicure

Exicure, Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company, develops nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid against validated targets. The company's preclinical candidate includes SCN9A that is in preclinical studies for the treatment of chronic pain. It also develops immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary SNA technology. Exicure, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Applied Therapeutics

Applied Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is AT-007 (also called govorestat) that has completed phase 3 for the treatment of galactosemia in healthy volunteers and adults, in pediatric clinical study for the treatment of galactosemia in kids, for treating enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase, and for the treatment of phosphomannomutase enzyme-CDG. It also develops AT-001 (also called caficrestat) that is in phase 3 clinical trials to treat diabetic cardiomyopathy, as well as for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy; and AT-003, which is in preclinical studies for the treatment diabetic retinopathy. The company has exclusive license and supply agreement with Mercury Pharma Group Limited to commercialize drug products containing AT-007. Applied Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.