Comparing Reviva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RVPH) and Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA)

Reviva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RVPH) and Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Reviva Pharmaceuticals and Akebia Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Reviva Pharmaceuticals	0	1	2	1	3.00
Akebia Therapeutics	0	0	2	0	3.00

Reviva Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $15.50, indicating a potential upside of 1,259.65%. Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $5.75, indicating a potential upside of 179.13%. Given Reviva Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Reviva Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Akebia Therapeutics.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.2% of Reviva Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 27.2% of Reviva Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Reviva Pharmaceuticals and Akebia Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Reviva Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-252.53%
Akebia Therapeutics	-27.07%	N/A	-20.57%

Risk and Volatility

Reviva Pharmaceuticals has a beta of -0.05, suggesting that its stock price is 105% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Akebia Therapeutics has a beta of 0.74, suggesting that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Reviva Pharmaceuticals and Akebia Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Reviva Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$39.26 million	($1.11)	-1.03
Akebia Therapeutics	$194.62 million	2.31	-$51.92 million	($0.23)	-8.96

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

Summary

Reviva Pharmaceuticals beats Akebia Therapeutics on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Reviva Pharmaceuticals

Reviva Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes next-generation therapeutics for diseases targeting unmet medical needs in the areas of central nervous system, respiratory, inflammatory, and cardiometabolic diseases. The company's lead product candidate comprises brilaroxazine (RP5063) for the treatment of various neuropsychiatric indications, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder, behavioral and psychotic symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease psychosis; in clinical development respiratory indications, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; and in preclinical development for the treatment of psoriasis. It is also developing RP1208 for the treatment of depression and obesity. Reviva Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney diseases. The company’s lead product investigational product candidate is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, which is in Phase III development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent patients. It offers Auryxia, a ferric citrate that is used to control the serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with DD-CKD on dialysis; and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis. The company’s product pipeline includes AKB-9090, a drug targeting critical-care indications; and AKB-10108, a drug targeting conditions related to premature birth. It has collaboration agreements with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for the development and commercialization of vadadustat in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as research and license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV for the development and commercialization of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase targeted compounds worldwide. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.