Head to Head Analysis: Corcept Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CORT) & Xeris Biopharma (NASDAQ:XERS)

Xeris Biopharma (NASDAQ:XERS) and Corcept Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CORT) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Xeris Biopharma and Corcept Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xeris Biopharma	1	2	4	0	2.43
Corcept Therapeutics	1	1	5	1	2.75

Xeris Biopharma currently has a consensus target price of $13.20, indicating a potential upside of 29.54%. Corcept Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $138.17, indicating a potential upside of 16.56%. Given Xeris Biopharma’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Xeris Biopharma is more favorable than Corcept Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Xeris Biopharma and Corcept Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Xeris Biopharma	-5.12%	338.21%	3.50%
Corcept Therapeutics	6.52%	8.26%	6.45%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Xeris Biopharma and Corcept Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Xeris Biopharma	$335.41 million	5.54	$550,000.00	($0.11)	-92.64
Corcept Therapeutics	$761.41 million	16.83	$99.65 million	$0.42	282.24

Corcept Therapeutics has higher revenue and earnings than Xeris Biopharma. Xeris Biopharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Corcept Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Xeris Biopharma has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Corcept Therapeutics has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.7% of Xeris Biopharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Corcept Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Xeris Biopharma shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.7% of Corcept Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Corcept Therapeutics beats Xeris Biopharma on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Xeris Biopharma

Xeris Biopharma Holdings, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies in Illinois. The company offers Gvoke, a ready-to-use liquid-stable glucagon for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia pediatric and adult patients; Keveyis, a therapy for the treatment of hyperkalemic, hypokalemic, and related variants of primary periodic paralysis; and Recorlev, a cortisol synthesis inhibitor proved for the treatment of endogenous hypercortisolemia in adult patients with Cushing's syndrome. It is also developing XP-8121, a once-weekly subcutaneous injection of levothyroxine that is in phase I clinical trial for the treatment of hypothyroidism; and non-aqueous XeriSol and XeriJect technologies for various therapies. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Corcept Therapeutics

Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated engages in discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of severe endocrinologic, oncologic, metabolic, and neurologic disorders in the United States. It offers Korlym tablets medication for the treatment of hyperglycemia secondary to hypercortisolism in adult patients with endogenous cushing's syndrome; and who have type 2 diabetes mellitus or glucose intolerance and have failed surgery or are not candidates for surgery. The company is also developing relacorilant, which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of cushing's syndrome; treatment for adrenal cancer and cortisol excess which is in phase 1b clinical trial; treatment for prostate cancer which is in phase II clinical trial; and nab-paclitaxel in combination with relacorilant, which is in phase III clinical trial to treat platinum-resistant ovarian tumors. In addition, it develops dazucorilant, which is in phase II clinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; miricorilant, which is in phase IIb trial for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and treatment for antipsychotic induced weight gain that is in phase I trial. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.