Reviewing SCYNEXIS (NASDAQ:SCYX) & Adherex Technologies (NASDAQ:FENC)

SCYNEXIS (NASDAQ:SCYX) and Adherex Technologies (NASDAQ:FENC) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for SCYNEXIS and Adherex Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SCYNEXIS	1	0	2	0	2.33
Adherex Technologies	1	1	4	0	2.50

SCYNEXIS currently has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 544.53%. Adherex Technologies has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 66.67%. Given SCYNEXIS’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe SCYNEXIS is more favorable than Adherex Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares SCYNEXIS and Adherex Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SCYNEXIS	N/A	-44.15%	-32.61%
Adherex Technologies	-6.09%	-5.71%	-2.37%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

54.4% of SCYNEXIS shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.5% of Adherex Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of SCYNEXIS shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of Adherex Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares SCYNEXIS and Adherex Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SCYNEXIS	$20.60 million	2.47	-$8.61 million	($2.09)	-2.45
Adherex Technologies	$44.64 million	8.03	-$9.74 million	($0.13)	-78.46

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

Volatility & Risk

SCYNEXIS has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adherex Technologies has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Adherex Technologies beats SCYNEXIS on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About SCYNEXIS

SCYNEXIS, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops medicines to overcome and prevent difficult-to-treat and drug-resistant infections in the United States. It offers BREXAFEMME for the treatment of patients with vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and recurrent VVC. The company's lead product candidate is Ibrexafungerp, an intravenous drug for the treatment of invasive candidiasis and/or candidemia, refractory invasive fungal infections, invasive aspergillosis, VVC, and recurrent VVC. It also develops SCY-247 to treat systemic fungal diseases. The company has licensing and collaboration agreements with GlaxoSmithKline Intellectual Property (No. 3) Limited, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Hansoh (Shanghai) Health Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited, and R-Pharm, CJSC for the development, manufacture, and commercialization of ibrexafungerp. SCYNEXIS, Inc. was formerly known as SCYNEXIS Chemistry & Automation, Inc. and changed its name to SCYNEXIS, Inc. in June 2002. The company was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey.

About Adherex Technologies

Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops product candidates for use in the treatment of cancer in the United States. Its lead product candidate is the Sodium Thiosulfate, which has completed the Phase III clinical trial for the prevention of cisplatin induced hearing loss or ototoxicity in children. The company was formerly known as Adherex Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. in September 2014. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.