Analyzing Zevra Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ZVRA) & Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ:FLNA)

Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ:FLNA) and Zevra Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ZVRA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cassava Sciences and Zevra Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cassava Sciences	1	0	0	0	1.00
Zevra Therapeutics	0	2	7	0	2.78

Zevra Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $23.00, indicating a potential upside of 126.16%. Given Zevra Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Zevra Therapeutics is more favorable than Cassava Sciences.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cassava Sciences and Zevra Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cassava Sciences	N/A	N/A	-$90.97 million	($1.88)	-0.77
Zevra Therapeutics	$106.47 million	5.65	$83.23 million	$1.33	7.65

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

Profitability

This table compares Cassava Sciences and Zevra Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cassava Sciences	N/A	-59.34%	-42.05%
Zevra Therapeutics	78.17%	57.42%	26.03%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

38.1% of Cassava Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.0% of Zevra Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.9% of Cassava Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Zevra Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Cassava Sciences has a beta of -0.67, suggesting that its share price is 167% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zevra Therapeutics has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Zevra Therapeutics beats Cassava Sciences on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cassava Sciences

Filana Therapeutics Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing novel, investigational therapies to modulate the filamin A protein for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, such as tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC)-related epilepsy, and other diseases associated with dysregulation or overexpression of filamin A. Its therapeutic product candidate, simufilam, is a proprietary small molecule oral treatment drug being studied for the treatment of TSC-related epilepsy.

About Zevra Therapeutics

Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. discovers and develops various proprietary prodrugs to treat serious medical conditions in the United States. The company develops its products through Ligand Activated Therapy platform. Its lead product candidate is KP1077, consisting of KP1077IH, which is under Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia, and KP1077N, which is under Phase ½ clinical trial to treat narcolepsy. The company is also developing Celiprolol, a prodrug product candidate that is under Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of vascular Ehlers Danlos syndrome. In addition, it offers AZSTARYS, a once-daily treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in patients aged six years and older; OLPRUVA to treat urea cycle disorders; and Arimoclomol for the treatment of niemann pick disease type C, an ultra-rare neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder. The company has collaboration and license agreement with Commave Therapeutics SA to develop, manufacture and commercialize the company’s product candidates containing SDX and d-methylphenidate; and license agreement with Acer and Relief Therapeutics, Inc. to develop and commercialize rights for OLPRUVA. The company was formerly known as KemPharm, Inc. and changed its name to Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. in February 2023. Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Celebration, Florida.