Financial Survey: Phibro Animal Health (NASDAQ:PAHC) and Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX)

Ardelyx (NASDAQ:ARDX) and Phibro Animal Health (NASDAQ:PAHC) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Ardelyx and Phibro Animal Health, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ardelyx	2	0	9	1	2.75
Phibro Animal Health	0	2	1	1	2.75

Ardelyx currently has a consensus target price of $13.90, indicating a potential upside of 311.24%. Phibro Animal Health has a consensus target price of $47.67, indicating a potential upside of 32.89%. Given Ardelyx’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ardelyx is more favorable than Phibro Animal Health.

Risk & Volatility

Ardelyx has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Phibro Animal Health has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ardelyx and Phibro Animal Health’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ardelyx	-12.35%	-36.00%	-10.77%
Phibro Animal Health	6.57%	37.86%	9.18%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

58.9% of Ardelyx shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of Phibro Animal Health shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.3% of Ardelyx shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 48.5% of Phibro Animal Health shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ardelyx and Phibro Animal Health”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ardelyx	$407.32 million	2.07	-$61.60 million	($0.22)	-15.36
Phibro Animal Health	$1.52 billion	0.96	$99.72 million	$2.44	14.70

Phibro Animal Health has higher revenue and earnings than Ardelyx. Ardelyx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Phibro Animal Health, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Phibro Animal Health beats Ardelyx on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ardelyx

Ardelyx, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines to treat gastrointestinal and cardiorenal therapeutic areas in the United States and internationally. The company’s lead product candidate is tenapanor for the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation. It also develops XPHOZAH, which is in Phase III clinical trial to reduce serum phosphorus in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD)on dialysis, or hyperphosphatemia; RDX013, a potassium secretagogue, for the treatment of elevated serum potassium, or hyperkalemia, a problem among patients with kidney and/or heart failure; and RDX020, for adult patients with metabolic acidosis, a serious electrolyte disorder. The company has agreements with Kyowa Kirin, Fosun Pharmaceutical Industrial Development Co. Ltd., and Knight Therapeutics, Inc. for the development and commercialization of tenapanor in their respective territories. The company was formerly known as Nteryx, Inc. and changed its name to Ardelyx, Inc. in June 2008. Ardelyx, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Phibro Animal Health

Phibro Animal Health Corporation operates as an animal health and mineral nutrition company in the United States, Israel, Brazil, Ireland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Animal Health, Mineral Nutrition, and Performance Products. The company develops, manufactures, and markets various products for food and companion animals including poultry, swine, beef and dairy cattle, aquaculture, and dogs. It also offers animal health products, such as antibacterials, anticoccidials, nutritional specialty, and vaccines and vaccine adjuvants for animal’s health and performance, food safety, and animal welfare; and engages in development, manufacturing, and marketing of microbial and bioproducts for various applications serving animal health and nutrition, environmental, industrial, and agricultural customers. In addition, the company develops, manufactures, and markets conventionally licensed and autogenous vaccine products, as well as adjuvants for animal vaccine manufacturers. Further, it provides formulations and concentrations of trace minerals, such as zinc, manganese, copper, iron, and other compounds to fortify the daily feed requirements of their livestock’s diets and maintain optimal balance of trace elements in animals. Additionally, the company offers specialty ingredients for personal care, industrial chemical, and chemical catalyst industries. It sells its animal health and mineral nutrition products through local sales offices to integrated poultry, swine, and cattle producers, as well as through commercial animal feed manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Philipp Brothers Chemicals, Inc. and changed its name to Phibro Animal Health Corporation in July 2003. Phibro Animal Health Corporation was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.