Contrasting Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) and Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	116.30%	22.95%	17.19%
Ascendis Pharma A/S	70.99%	32.54%	7.71%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Rigel Pharmaceuticals and Ascendis Pharma A/S, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	0	3	4	0	2.57
Ascendis Pharma A/S	0	1	18	1	3.00

Rigel Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $59.00, indicating a potential upside of 25.16%. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus target price of $313.21, indicating a potential upside of 40.32%. Given Ascendis Pharma A/S’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Ascendis Pharma A/S is more favorable than Rigel Pharmaceuticals.

Risk & Volatility

Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.19, suggesting that its stock price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

66.2% of Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 10.5% of Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.0% of Ascendis Pharma A/S shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Rigel Pharmaceuticals and Ascendis Pharma A/S”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	$294.28 million	2.96	$367.02 million	$16.32	2.89
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$814.57 million	17.09	-$258.00 million	$12.89	17.32

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

Summary

Ascendis Pharma A/S beats Rigel Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in discovering, developing, and providing therapies that enhance the lives of patients with hematologic disorders and cancer. The company’s commercialized products include Tavalisse, an oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia; Rezlidhia, a non-intensive monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test; and GAVRETO, a once daily, small molecule, oral, kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic rearranged during transfection (RET) fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, as well as for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer. It also develops R289, an oral IRAK1/4 Inhibitor, which is in Phase 1b clinical trials for the treatment of hematology-oncology, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases; and a receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitor program in clinical development with partner Eli Lilly and Company. In addition, the company has product candidates in clinical development with partners BerGenBio ASA and Daiichi Sankyo. The company has strategic development collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for the development of REZLIDHIA (Olutasidenib) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other hematologic cancers. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

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.