Nuvilex (NASDAQ:PMCB) & Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL) Critical Analysis

Nuvilex (NASDAQ:PMCB) and Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.2% of Nuvilex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.2% of Avadel Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.3% of Nuvilex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Avadel Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Nuvilex and Avadel Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuvilex	1	0	0	0	1.00
Avadel Pharmaceuticals	2	10	1	0	1.92

Avadel Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $18.13, suggesting a potential downside of 15.24%. Given Avadel Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Avadel Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Nuvilex.

Volatility and Risk

Nuvilex has a beta of -0.2, suggesting that its share price is 120% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avadel Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Nuvilex and Avadel Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuvilex	N/A	-6.41%	-5.77%
Avadel Pharmaceuticals	-1.32%	-3.73%	-1.73%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Nuvilex and Avadel Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuvilex	N/A	N/A	$30.66 million	($0.54)	-1.35
Avadel Pharmaceuticals	$248.52 million	8.40	-$48.83 million	N/A	N/A

Nuvilex has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Avadel Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Avadel Pharmaceuticals beats Nuvilex on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuvilex

PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes cellular therapies for cancer in the United States. Its cellular therapies are developed based on Cell-in-a-Box, a proprietary cellulose-based live cell encapsulation technology used as a platform to treat various types of cancer, including advanced and inoperable pancreatic cancer. The company develops CypCaps for pancreatic cancer and other solid cancerous tumors. It has a cooperation agreement with Iroquois Master Fund Ltd.; and license agreements with SG Austria Pte. Ltd. and Austrianova Singapore Pte. Ltd. to use the Cell-in-the-Box technology for cancer treatment. The company was formerly known as Nuvilex, Inc. and changed its name to PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc. in January 2015. PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Avadel Pharmaceuticals

Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc operates as a biopharmaceutical company in the United States. Its lead product candidate is LUMRYZ, a formulation of sodium oxybate, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness or cataplexy in adults with narcolepsy. The company was formerly known as Flamel Technologies SA and changed its name to Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc in January 2017. Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.