Critical Review: Lipella Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LIPO) & Chimerix (NASDAQ:CMRX)

Chimerix (NASDAQ:CMRX) and Lipella Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LIPO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

45.4% of Chimerix shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.3% of Lipella Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 13.1% of Chimerix shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 39.6% of Lipella Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Chimerix has a beta of 1.13, suggesting that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lipella Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Chimerix and Lipella Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chimerix	-25,337.96%	-41.32%	-37.83%
Lipella Pharmaceuticals	-992.04%	-171.66%	-145.43%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Chimerix and Lipella Pharmaceuticals’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chimerix	$320,000.00	270.26	-$82.10 million	($0.93)	-1.04
Lipella Pharmaceuticals	$450,000.00	11.50	-$4.62 million	N/A	N/A

Lipella Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Chimerix.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Chimerix and Lipella Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chimerix	0	0	2	0	3.00
Lipella Pharmaceuticals	0	0	1	0	3.00

Chimerix currently has a consensus target price of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 771.79%. Lipella Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $2.00, suggesting a potential upside of 194.12%. Given Chimerix’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Chimerix is more favorable than Lipella Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Chimerix beats Lipella Pharmaceuticals on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chimerix

Chimerix, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops medicines to improve and extend the lives of patients facing deadly diseases. Its pipeline products include ONC201 a program that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for treating patients with H3 K27M-mutant diffuse glioma, as well as in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of rare neuroendocrine tumors; and ONC206, an imipridone, Dopamine Receptor D2 (DRD2) antagonist, and caseinolytic protease P (ClpP) agonist, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial for adult and pediatric patients with primary central nervous system tumors. The company also develops ONC212, an imipridone agonist of the orphan G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) tumor suppressor GPR132, as well as ClpP for oncology indications; and CMX521, a nucleoside analog antiviral drug candidate for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. It has license agreement with SymBio Pharmaceuticals to develop and commercialize TEMBEXA for human diseases other than orthopoxviruses, including smallpox. Chimerix, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

About Lipella Pharmaceuticals

Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing drugs by reformulating the active agents in existing generic drugs and optimizing these reformulations for various applications. The company develops LP-10, a formulation of tacrolimus that has completed Phase 2a clinical trial for patients with radiation-induced hemorrhagic cystitis; LP-310, a formulation of tacrolimus for the treatment of oral lichen planus; and LP-410, an oral liposomal formulation of tacrolimus for the treatment of oral graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Lipella Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.