Contrasting Citius Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CTXR) & NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP)

NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP) and Citius Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CTXR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.3% of NRx Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.9% of Citius Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of NRx Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Citius Pharmaceuticals shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NRx Pharmaceuticals and Citius Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NRx Pharmaceuticals	$1.23 million	130.19	-$28.62 million	($1.09)	-4.06
Citius Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$37.43 million	($2.13)	-0.31

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

Profitability

This table compares NRx Pharmaceuticals and Citius Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NRx Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-202.92%
Citius Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-61.09%	-35.36%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for NRx Pharmaceuticals and Citius Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NRx Pharmaceuticals	1	1	4	0	2.50
Citius Pharmaceuticals	1	1	2	0	2.25

NRx Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $38.25, suggesting a potential upside of 765.38%. Citius Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 663.48%. Given NRx Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe NRx Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Citius Pharmaceuticals.

Volatility & Risk

NRx Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 2.02, suggesting that its share price is 102% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citius Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.05, suggesting that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NRx Pharmaceuticals beats Citius Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NRx Pharmaceuticals

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage bio-pharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, including suicidal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain. Its products include NRX-101 (D-cycloserine/Lurasidone), an oral, fixed dosed combination of D-cycloserine and lurasidone that earned food and drug administration-designated breakthrough therapy for suicidal treatment-resistant bipolar depression; and NRX-100 (ketamine), which has been awarded FDA fast track designation for the treatment of severe bipolar depression with acute suicidal ideation and behavior. The company has a partnership with Alvogen Inc. and Lotus Pharmaceutical Company; development and manufacturing agreement with Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alcami; license agreement with Apkarian Technologies; development and license agreement with Glytech; license agreement with Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.

About Citius Pharmaceuticals

Citius Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a late-stage pharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of critical care products focusing on oncology products, anti-infectives products in adjunct cancer care, prescription products, and stem cell therapy. It is developing five proprietary products comprising LYMPHIR, an engineered IL-2 diphtheria toxin fusion protein for the treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; Mino-Lok, an antibiotic lock solution to treat patients with catheter-related bloodstream infections by salvaging the infected catheter, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; Halo-Lido, a corticosteroid-lidocaine topical formulation that intends to provide anti-inflammatory and anesthetic relief to persons suffering from hemorrhoids that is in clinical Phase 2b trial; Mino-Wrap, a liquifying gel-based wrap for reduction of tissue expander infections following breast reconstructive surgeries; and NoveCite, a mesenchymal stem cell therapy for the treatment of acute respiratory disease syndrome. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Cranford, New Jersey.