Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA – Get Free Report) and Rani Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RANI – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
33.9% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.2% of Rani Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 53.3% of Rani Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Akebia Therapeutics and Rani Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | -27.07% | N/A | -20.57% |
| Rani Therapeutics | N/A | -219.64% | -56.71% |
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | $169.88 million | 2.36 | -$51.92 million | ($0.23) | -8.00 |
| Rani Therapeutics | $2.72 million | 33.49 | -$33.97 million | ($1.06) | -1.50 |
Rani Therapeutics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Akebia Therapeutics. Akebia Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Rani Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Akebia Therapeutics and Rani Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Rani Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3.14 |
Akebia Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 307.61%. Rani Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $11.71, suggesting a potential upside of 636.75%. Given Rani Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Rani Therapeutics is more favorable than Akebia Therapeutics.
Volatility & Risk
Akebia Therapeutics has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its share price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rani Therapeutics has a beta of 0.05, meaning that its share price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Rani Therapeutics beats Akebia Therapeutics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Rani Therapeutics
Rani Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. operates as a clinical stage biotherapeutics company that develops orally administered biologics for patients, physicians, and healthcare systems in the United States. The company develops the RaniPill capsule, a drug-agnostic oral delivery platform to deliver a variety of drug substances, including oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, and antibodies. Its product pipeline includes RT-102, a parathyroid hormone that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of osteoporosis; RT-105, an anti-TNF-alpha antibody that is in preclinical studies to treat psoriatic arthritis; RT-110, a parathyroid hormone for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism; and RT-111, an ustekinumab biosimilar for the treatment of various inflammatory conditions. Rani Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
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