Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) & Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) Critical Survey

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.0% of Enanta Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.5% of Enanta Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.6% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Enanta Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Enanta Pharmaceuticals	-96.89%	-61.84%	-20.70%
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	10.76%	14.98%	6.96%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Enanta Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Enanta Pharmaceuticals	1	0	3	0	2.50
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	2	6	0	0	1.75

Enanta Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 52.00%. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $22.50, suggesting a potential downside of 15.48%. Given Enanta Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Enanta Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Amphastar Pharmaceuticals.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Enanta Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Enanta Pharmaceuticals	$65.32 million	5.57	-$81.89 million	($2.41)	-5.19
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$719.89 million	1.57	$98.09 million	$1.69	15.75

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Enanta Pharmaceuticals. Enanta Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals beats Enanta Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its product pipeline comprises EDP-514, which is in phase 1b clinical development for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus or HBV; EDP-938 and EDP-323, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus; EDP-235, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of human coronaviruses; and Glecaprevir, which is in the market for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus or HCV. The company has a collaborative development and license agreement with Abbott Laboratories to develop, manufacture, and commercialize HCV NS3 and NS3/4A protease inhibitor compounds, including paritaprevir and glecaprevir. Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency. The company provides Amphadase, an injection to absorb and disperse other injected drugs; Epinephrine injection for allergic reactions; Lidocaine jelly, an anesthetic product for urological procedures; Lidocaine topical solution for various procedures; Phytonadione injection, a vitamin K1 injection for newborn babies; emergency syringe products; morphine injection for use with patient-controlled analgesia pumps; and Lorazepam injection for surgery and medical procedures. In addition, it offers Neostigmine methylsulfate injection to treat myasthenia gravis and to reverse the effects of muscle relaxants; Isoproterenol hydrochloride injection for mild or transient episodes of heart block; Ganirelix Acetate injection for the inhibition of premature luteinizing hormone surges; Vasopressin to increase blood pressure; and Regadenoson, a stress agent for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. Further, the company distributes recombinant human insulin APIs and porcine insulin API. Additionally, it develops generic product candidates, such as injectable, inhalation, and analytical technologies; biosimial product candidates; and intranasal epinephrine for the treatment of allergic reactions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.