Head-To-Head Review: Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) & USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA)

Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) and USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Protara Therapeutics and USANA Health Sciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Protara Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$57.44 million	($1.34)	-2.99
USANA Health Sciences	$925.26 million	0.39	$10.76 million	$0.47	41.09

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Protara Therapeutics and USANA Health Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Protara Therapeutics	1	0	7	0	2.75
USANA Health Sciences	1	1	0	0	1.50

Protara Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $26.25, indicating a potential upside of 556.25%. Given Protara Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Protara Therapeutics is more favorable than USANA Health Sciences.

Profitability

This table compares Protara Therapeutics and USANA Health Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Protara Therapeutics	N/A	-38.70%	-36.02%
USANA Health Sciences	0.96%	6.21%	4.50%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

38.1% of Protara Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.3% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Protara Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Protara Therapeutics has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, USANA Health Sciences has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

USANA Health Sciences beats Protara Therapeutics on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Protara Therapeutics

Protara Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in advancing transformative therapies for the treatment of cancer and rare diseases. The company's lead program is TARA-002, an investigational cell therapy, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and lymphatic malformations. It is also developing intravenous choline chloride, an investigational phospholipid substrate replacement therapy that is in Phase II clinical trial for patients receiving parenteral nutrition. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.

About USANA Health Sciences

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells science-based nutritional, personal care, and skincare products in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe. The company offers USANA nutritional products that comprise essentials/CellSentials, such as vitamin and mineral supplements that provide a foundation of total body nutrition for various age groups; optimizers consisting of targeted supplements that are designed to meet cardiovascular, skeletal/structural, and digestive health needs; and food that include meal replacement shakes, snack bars, and other related products. It also provides Celavive, a skin care regimen for various skin care types and ethnicities; and other products for prenatal, infant, and young child age groups. In addition, the company offers materials and online tools to assist associates in building their businesses, as well as in marketing products. It offers its products through retail stores and online. The company has a research collaboration agreement with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; and National Sports Training Bureau. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.