Comparing UCB (OTCMKTS:UCBJY) and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR)

UCB (OTCMKTS:UCBJY) and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares UCB and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
UCB	N/A	N/A	N/A
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-182.69%	-64.04%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

62.6% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares UCB and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
UCB	$5.27 billion	7.12	$371.23 million	N/A	N/A
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	$3.55 million	684.37	-$599.49 million	($5.02)	-3.89

UCB has higher revenue and earnings than Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals.

Risk and Volatility

UCB has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for UCB and Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
UCB	0	0	0	0	0.00
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals	0	4	7	0	2.64

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $42.70, indicating a potential upside of 118.64%. Given Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than UCB.

Summary

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals beats UCB on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About UCB

UCB SA, a biopharmaceutical company, develops products and solutions for people with neurology and immunology diseases worldwide. The company's primary products include Cimzia for inflammatory TNF mediated diseases, as well as ankylosing spondylitis, axial spondyloarthritis, Crohn's disease, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis; Vimpat, Keppra, and Briviact for epilepsy; Neupro for Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome; Nayzilam, a nasal spray rescue treatment for epilepsy seizure clusters; and Zyrtec and Xyzal for allergies. It also offers Evenity for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; Bimzelx for treating plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis; and Fintepla to treat Dravet syndrome. In addition, the company is involved in developing rozanolixizumab and Zilbrisq to treat myasthenia gravis; dapirolizumab pegol for systemic lupus erythematosus; fenfluramine to treat CDKL5 deficiency disorder; doxecitine for TK2 deficiency disorder; STACCATO alprazolam for stereotypical prolonged seizures; bepranemab to treat Alzheimer's disease; minzasolmin and UCB0222 for Parkinson's disease; and UCB1381 and UCB9741 for atropic dermatitis. Further, it engages in contract manufacturing activities. UCB SA has collaboration agreements with Amgen, Biogen, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, and Otsuka. The company was incorporated in 1925 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops medicines for the treatment of intractable diseases in the United States. The company's products in pipeline includes Plozasiran, which is in Phase 2b and one Phase 3 clinical trial to treat hypertriglyceridemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and chylomicronemia syndrome; Zodasiran that is in Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia; ARO-PNPLA3, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; ARO-RAGE that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat inflammatory pulmonary conditions; and ARO-MUC5AC, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat muco-obstructive pulmonary diseases. It also develops ARO-MMP7 that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; ARO-DUX4 for the treatment of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy; ARO-SOD1 for the potential treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and ARO-C3, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial for the treatment of patients with various complement mediated or complement associated renal diseases. In addition, the company is involved in the development of JNJ-3989, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat chronic hepatitis B virus infection; Olpasiran that is in Phase 3 clinical trial to reduce the production of apolipoprotein A; GSK-4532990 that is in phase 2 clinical trial to treat liver diseases; HZN-457, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat uncontrolled gout; and Fazirsiran that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment for liver disease associated with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has license and research collaboration agreements with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Horizon Therapeutics Ireland DAC; Amgen Inc.; and Glaxosmithkline Intellectual Property (No. 3) Limited. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Pasadena, California.