Head to Head Survey: Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) versus Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Denali Therapeutics	N/A	-55.27%	-44.24%
Ascendis Pharma A/S	70.99%	32.54%	7.71%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Denali Therapeutics 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 stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Denali Therapeutics and Ascendis Pharma A/S, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Denali Therapeutics	1	2	13	0	2.75
Ascendis Pharma A/S	0	1	18	1	3.00

Denali Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $35.85, indicating a potential upside of 94.82%. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus target price of $313.21, indicating a potential upside of 40.32%. Given Denali Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Denali Therapeutics is more favorable than Ascendis Pharma A/S.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Denali Therapeutics 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
Denali Therapeutics	$330.53 million	8.90	-$512.54 million	($2.84)	-6.48
Ascendis Pharma A/S	$814.57 million	17.09	-$258.00 million	$12.89	17.32

Ascendis Pharma A/S has higher revenue and earnings than Denali Therapeutics. Denali Therapeutics 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.

Risk and Volatility

Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ascendis Pharma A/S beats Denali Therapeutics on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson’s disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 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.