Analyzing ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) and Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ)

ESSA Pharma (NASDAQ:EPIX) and Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:JAZZ) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ESSA Pharma and Jazz Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ESSA Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$26.58 million	($0.62)	-2.65
Jazz Pharmaceuticals	$3.83 billion	1.94	$414.83 million	$7.10	17.33

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for ESSA Pharma and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ESSA Pharma	0	3	0	0	2.00
Jazz Pharmaceuticals	0	2	13	0	2.87

ESSA Pharma currently has a consensus target price of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 479.27%. Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $177.00, indicating a potential upside of 43.86%. Given ESSA Pharma’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe ESSA Pharma is more favorable than Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.1% of ESSA Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.1% of Jazz Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 14.7% of ESSA Pharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Jazz Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

ESSA Pharma has a beta of 1.62, meaning that its share price is 62% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jazz Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares ESSA Pharma and Jazz Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ESSA Pharma	N/A	-20.17%	-19.62%
Jazz Pharmaceuticals	11.60%	29.30%	9.72%

Summary

Jazz Pharmaceuticals beats ESSA Pharma on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ESSA Pharma

ESSA Pharma Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, focuses the development of small molecule drugs for the treatment of prostate cancer. The company’s lead candidate EPI-7386, an androgen receptor based resistance mechanisms that develop in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer and metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. It has collaboration agreements with Bayer Consumer Care AG; Janssen Research & Development, LLC; and Astellas Pharma Inc. ESSA Pharma Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About Jazz Pharmaceuticals

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc identifies, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products for unmet medical needs in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers Xywav for cataplexy or excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) with narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia; Xyrem to treat cataplexy or EDS with narcolepsy; Epidiolex for seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes, or tuberous sclerosis complex; Zepzelca to treat metastatic small cell lung cancer, or with disease progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy; Rylaze for acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma; Enrylaze to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma; Defitelio to treat severe hepatic veno-occlusive disease; and Vyxeos for newly-diagnosed therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia. It also develops Zanidatamab to treat HER2-expressing gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (GEA), and patients with HER2-expressing metastatic GEA; Zepzelca for the treatment of patients with select relapsed/refractory solid tumors based on limited response in three solid tumor cohorts; JZP815, a pan-RAF kinase inhibitor that targets components of the mitogen-activated protein kinase; JZP898, a conditionally-activated interferon alpha molecule; Epidiolex to treat LGS, DS, and TSC; Suvecaltamide to treat parkinson’s disease tremor; JZP150, a fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibitor program to treat post-traumatic stress disorder; and JZP441 to treat narcolepsy, IH, and other sleep disorders. The company has licensing and collaboration agreements with XL-protein GmbH to extend the plasma half-life of selected asparaginase product candidates; Redx Pharma plc for preclinical activities Ras/Raf/MAP kinase pathway program; and Autifony Therapeutics Limited on discovering and developing drug candidates targeting two different ion channel targets associated with neurological disorders. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.