Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VNDA) and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) Head to Head Review

Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VNDA) and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vanda Pharmaceuticals	-6.00%	-2.01%	-1.68%
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	15.69%	27.77%	23.68%

Risk & Volatility

Vanda Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vanda Pharmaceuticals	0	0	1	0	3.00
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	0	0	6	0	3.00

Vanda Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $13.00, suggesting a potential upside of 174.26%. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $29.50, suggesting a potential upside of 47.87%. Given Vanda Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Vanda Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Catalyst Pharmaceuticals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vanda Pharmaceuticals and Catalyst Pharmaceuticals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vanda Pharmaceuticals	$192.64 million	1.43	$2.51 million	($0.08)	-59.25
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals	$434.48 million	5.42	$71.41 million	$0.54	36.94

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.1% of Vanda Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.2% of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 7.7% of Vanda Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.0% of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals beats Vanda Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vanda Pharmaceuticals

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies to address high unmet medical needs worldwide. The company’s marketed products include HETLIOZ to treat non-24-hour sleep-wake disorders; and Fanapt oral tablets for the treatment of schizophrenia. Its pipeline products include HETLIOZ (tasimelteon) to treat jet lag disorder, insomnia, delayed sleep phase disorder, sleep disturbances in autism spectrum disorder, and pediatric Non-24; Fanapt (iloperidone) for the treatment of bipolar I disorder and Parkinson’s disease psychosis, as well as a long acting injectable (LAI) formulation to treat schizophrenia; and Tradipitant (VLY-686), a small molecule neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) antagonist to treat gastroparesis, motion sickness, atopic dermatitis, and COVID-19 pneumonia. The company’s pipeline products also include VTR-297, a small molecule histone deacetylase inhibitor to treat hematologic malignancies and with potential use as a treatment for various oncology indications; VQW-765, a small molecule nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonist to treat performance anxiety and psychiatric disorders; VHX-896, an active metabolite of iloperidone; and antisense oligonucleotide molecules. In addition, it offers a portfolio of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator activators and inhibitors that include VSJ-110 for the treatment of dry eye and ocular inflammation; and VPO-227 for the treatment of secretory diarrhea disorders comprising cholera. Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients. The company develops Firdapse for the treatment of MuSK antibody positive myasthenia gravis and spinal muscular atrophy type. It has license agreements with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.; and collaboration and license agreement with Endo Ventures Limited for the development and commercialization of generic Sabril tablets. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in Coral Gables, Florida.