Head to Head Review: CareDx (NASDAQ:CDNA) vs. Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) and CareDx (NASDAQ:CDNA) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and CareDx”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$814.57 million	17.67	-$258.00 million	$12.89	17.90
CareDx	$379.80 million	8.36	-$21.35 million	$2.07	29.65

CareDx has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ascendis Pharma A/S. Ascendis Pharma A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CareDx, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ascendis Pharma A/S and CareDx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascendis Pharma A/S	70.99%	32.54%	7.71%
CareDx	24.23%	2.87%	2.17%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Ascendis Pharma A/S and CareDx, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascendis Pharma A/S	0	1	19	1	3.00
CareDx	0	4	3	1	2.62

Ascendis Pharma A/S presently has a consensus price target of $310.75, indicating a potential upside of 34.70%. CareDx has a consensus price target of $54.00, indicating a potential downside of 12.01%. Given Ascendis Pharma A/S’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ascendis Pharma A/S is more favorable than CareDx.

Volatility & Risk

Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CareDx has a beta of 2.43, suggesting that its stock price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ascendis Pharma A/S beats CareDx on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark.

About CareDx

CareDx, Inc. engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of diagnostic solutions for transplant patients and caregivers in the United States and internationally. It also provides AlloSure Kidney, a donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) solution for kidney transplant patients; AlloMap Heart, a gene expression solution for heart transplant patients; AlloSure Heart, a dd-cfDNA solution for heart transplant patients; and AlloSure Lung, a dd-cfDNA solution for lung transplant patients. The company offers Olerup SSP, which is used to type human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles based on sequence specific primer technology; QTYPE that enables precision in HLA typing; and Ottr, a transplant patient management software. In addition, it provides AlloSeq Tx, a high-resolution HLA typing solution; AlloSeq cfDNA, a surveillance solution to measure dd-cfDNA in blood; AlloSeq HCT, a solution for chimerism testing for stem cell transplant recipients; Allocell, a surveillance solution that monitors the level of engraftment and persistence of allogeneic cells for patients who have received cell therapy transplants; and XynQAPI cloud-based transplant quality management software, as well as AlloCare, a mobile app that offers a patient-centric resource for transplant recipients. The company offers its products directly to customers, as well as through third-party distributors and sub-distributors. It has a license agreement with Illumina, Inc. for the distribution, development, and commercialization of NGS products and technologies; and Cibiltech SAS to commercialize iBox, a software for the predictive analysis of post-transplantation kidney allograft loss. The company was formerly known as XDx, Inc. and changed its name to CareDx, Inc. in March 2014. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.