Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) and Zhongchao (NASDAQ:ZCMD) Critical Analysis

Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN) and Zhongchao (NASDAQ:ZCMD) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Exagen and Zhongchao, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exagen	1	0	7	1	2.89
Zhongchao	1	0	0	0	1.00

Exagen currently has a consensus price target of $9.62, indicating a potential upside of 44.95%. Given Exagen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Exagen is more favorable than Zhongchao.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Exagen and Zhongchao”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exagen	$66.57 million	2.42	-$19.95 million	($0.81)	-8.20
Zhongchao	$11.38 million	0.12	-$6.31 million	N/A	N/A

Zhongchao has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Exagen.

Volatility & Risk

Exagen has a beta of 2.05, suggesting that its stock price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zhongchao has a beta of -0.01, suggesting that its stock price is 101% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.2% of Exagen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.7% of Zhongchao shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Exagen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 28.6% of Zhongchao shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Exagen and Zhongchao’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exagen	-26.61%	-104.46%	-28.93%
Zhongchao	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Exagen beats Zhongchao on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exagen

Exagen Inc. develops and commercializes various testing products under the AVISE brand in the United States. The company enables healthcare providers to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its lead testing product is AVISE CTD that enables differential diagnosis for patients presenting with symptoms indicative of various connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and other related diseases with overlapping symptoms. The company offers AVISE Lupus that measures activation of the complement system by quantifying the level of B-cell C4d and erythrocyte bound C4d in the patient's blood; and AVISE APS, which consists of a panel of autoantibody tests that aids in the diagnosis and management of APS. In addition, it provides AVISE Vasculitis AAV, which utilizes a testing panel of individual analytes to provide physicians with results in the assessment and monitoring of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody associated vasculitis; AVISE SLE Prognostic, a panel of autoantibodies for assessing the potential for complications affecting the kidney, brain, and cardiovascular system; and AVISE Anti-CarP test, which identifies RA patients with severe disease. Further, the company offers AVISE SLE Monitor, a biomarker blood test; AVISE MTX, a patented and validated blood test; and AVISE HCQ, a blood test to monitor levels of hydroxychloroquine. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Research Institute to develop novel patented biomarkers. The company was formerly known as Exagen Diagnostics, Inc. and changed its name to Exagen Inc. in January 2019. Exagen Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vista, California.

About Zhongchao

Zhongchao Inc. provides healthcare information, education, and training services in the People's Republic of China. The company offers online and onsite health information services, healthcare education programs, and healthcare training products, including clinical practice training, open classes of popular medical topics, interactive case studies, academic conference and workshops, continuing education courses, and articles and short videos with educational healthcare content. It also provides customized medical courses and medical training services; and patient management services through online platform under the Zhongxun brand. The company operates through its mdmooc.org online platform under the MDMOOC brand; and Sunshine Health Forums, a Wechat subscription account and mobile app. It serves enterprises, non-for-profit organizations, and medical journals, as well as healthcare professionals, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Shanghai, China.