Ensysce Biosciences (NASDAQ:ENSC) and Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) Head to Head Comparison

Ensysce Biosciences (NASDAQ:ENSC) and Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

5.6% of Ensysce Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by institutional investors. 52.7% of Ensysce Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.1% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Ensysce Biosciences has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuvation Bio has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ensysce Biosciences and Nuvation Bio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ensysce Biosciences	-476.29%	-1,024.79%	-262.37%
Nuvation Bio	N/A	-12.21%	-11.89%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ensysce Biosciences and Nuvation Bio’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ensysce Biosciences	$2.23 million	1.85	-$10.61 million	($5.06)	-0.11
Nuvation Bio	N/A	N/A	-$75.80 million	($0.34)	-7.71

Ensysce Biosciences has higher revenue and earnings than Nuvation Bio. Nuvation Bio is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ensysce Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ensysce Biosciences and Nuvation Bio, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ensysce Biosciences	0	0	1	0	3.00
Nuvation Bio	0	0	5	0	3.00

Ensysce Biosciences presently has a consensus price target of $7.00, suggesting a potential upside of 1,142.02%. Nuvation Bio has a consensus price target of $6.60, suggesting a potential upside of 154.83%. Given Ensysce Biosciences’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Ensysce Biosciences is more favorable than Nuvation Bio.

Summary

Nuvation Bio beats Ensysce Biosciences on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ensysce Biosciences

Ensysce Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, engages in developing various prescription drugs for severe pain relief in opioid misuse, abuse, and overdose in the United States. It develops products using Trypsin Activated Abuse Protection platform, an abuse-resistant opioid prodrug technology; and Multi-Pill Abuse Resistance platform, an over-dose protection opioid prodrug technology. The company is developing PF614, a TAAP prodrug candidate of oxycodone for the treatment of acute or chronic pain; and PF614-MPAR, a combination product of PF614 and nafamostat for overdose protection against excessive oral ingestion, as well as an oral and inhalation drug product of nafamostat for use against coronaviral infections and other pulmonary diseases, such as cystic fibrosis. It is also developing PF614, an extended-release oxycodone-derivative which releases clinically effective oxycodone; PF8001 and PF8026 are extended and immediate-release prodrugs of amphetamine for ADHD medication abuse. The company is based in La Jolla, California.

About Nuvation Bio

Nuvation Bio Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of therapeutic candidates for oncology. The company's lead product candidate is NUV-868, a BD2 selective oral small molecule BET inhibitor that epigenetically regulates proteins that control tumor growth and differentiation, including oncogenes comprising c-myc; NUV-1156, an AR binder Xtandi that address advanced stage prostate cancers with the potential to move into earlier lines typically treated with surgical prostatectomy; and drug-drug conjugate (DDC) platform which leverages a novel therapeutic approach within the drug-conjugate class of anti-cancer therapies to deliver anti-cancer therapeutics to cancer cells, as well as NUV-1176, a PARP inhibitor to address ER+ breast and ovarian cancer. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York, New York.