NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) vs. Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Financial Review

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) and NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Viking Therapeutics and NextCure, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking Therapeutics	2	1	8	1	2.67
NextCure	1	1	2	0	2.25

Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $96.62, suggesting a potential upside of 191.13%. NextCure has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 131.43%. Given Viking Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Viking Therapeutics is more favorable than NextCure.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Viking Therapeutics and NextCure”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$359.64 million	($4.66)	-7.12
NextCure	N/A	N/A	-$55.84 million	($8.70)	-0.94

Viking Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NextCure, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

76.0% of Viking Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.6% of NextCure shares are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of Viking Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of NextCure shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Viking Therapeutics and NextCure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking Therapeutics	N/A	-94.56%	-82.75%
NextCure	N/A	-154.62%	-100.19%

Volatility & Risk

Viking Therapeutics has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NextCure has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Viking Therapeutics beats NextCure on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD. It also develops VK5211, an orally available non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulator that is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of patients recovering from non-elective hip fracture surgery; VK0612, an orally available Phase IIb-ready drug candidate for type 2 diabetes; VK2735, a novel dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide, which is in Phase 1 SAD/MAD clinical trial, and VK0214, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the TRß for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About NextCure

NextCure, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in discovering and developing novel immunomedicines to treat cancer and other immune-related diseases by restoring normal immune function. The company is developing NC410, an immunomedicine designed to block immune suppression mediated by LAIR-1; NC762, a monoclonal antibody that binds specifically to B7-H4, a protein expressed on multiple tumor types; and NC525, a monoclonal antibody that binds to LAIR-1 to functionally kill AML blast cells and leukemic stem cells while preserving normal blood cells, including hematopoietic stem cells. Its discovery and research programs include an antibody in preclinical evaluation of other potential novel immunomodulatory molecules. It has a license agreement with Yale University. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Beltsville, Maryland.