Head-To-Head Analysis: Cocrystal Pharma (NASDAQ:COCP) & Milestone Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIST)

Milestone Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MIST) and Cocrystal Pharma (NASDAQ:COCP) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Milestone Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.77, suggesting that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cocrystal Pharma has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Milestone Pharmaceuticals and Cocrystal Pharma, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Milestone Pharmaceuticals	0	1	3	0	2.75
Cocrystal Pharma	0	0	1	0	3.00

Milestone Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus target price of $10.75, suggesting a potential upside of 536.09%. Cocrystal Pharma has a consensus target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 513.50%. Given Milestone Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Milestone Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Cocrystal Pharma.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Milestone Pharmaceuticals and Cocrystal Pharma’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Milestone Pharmaceuticals	$1.00 million	89.82	-$59.69 million	($1.39)	-1.22
Cocrystal Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$17.98 million	($1.99)	-0.82

Cocrystal Pharma has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Milestone Pharmaceuticals. Milestone Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cocrystal Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Milestone Pharmaceuticals and Cocrystal Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Milestone Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-170.99%	-64.45%
Cocrystal Pharma	N/A	-59.62%	-54.62%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

86.2% of Milestone Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.7% of Cocrystal Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.4% of Milestone Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.1% of Cocrystal Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

About Milestone Pharmaceuticals

Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of cardiovascular medicines. The company's lead product candidate is etripamil, a novel and potent calcium channel blocker, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in the United States and Canada; and Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of atrial fibrillation and rapid ventricular rate. It has a license and collaboration agreement with Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize etripamil prophylactic and therapeutic uses in humans, as well as with the Montreal Heart Institute, the WCN network, and other research centers. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Montréal, Canada.

About Cocrystal Pharma

Cocrystal Pharma, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery and development of antiviral therapeutic treatments for serious and/or chronic viral diseases. It employs structure-based technologies to create antiviral drugs primarily to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV), influenza virus, coronavirus, and norovirus infections. The company develops CC-31244, a HCV non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor that has completed Phase II a clinical trial to treat HCV infection; and CC-42344, a PB2 inhibitor that has completed Phase I clinical trial for treating influenza infection. It is also involved in identifying and developing non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors for norovirus infections. Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. has a license and research collaboration agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. to discover and develop proprietary influenza A/B antiviral agents; and a license agreement with Kansas State University Research Foundation to develop antiviral compounds for the treatment of norovirus and coronavirus infections. The company is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.