Head-To-Head Survey: Pharming Group (OTCMKTS:PHGUF) and Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA)

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) and Pharming Group (OTCMKTS:PHGUF) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.49, suggesting that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pharming Group has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Verrica Pharmaceuticals and Pharming Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	0	0	4	0	3.00
Pharming Group	0	0	0	0	N/A

Verrica Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $12.25, indicating a potential upside of 534.72%. Given Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Verrica Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Pharming Group.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

42.5% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.6% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Verrica Pharmaceuticals and Pharming Group”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	$5.12 million	16.08	-$67.00 million	($1.75)	-1.10
Pharming Group	$245.32 million	2.01	-$10.55 million	($0.01)	-75.47

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

Profitability

This table compares Verrica Pharmaceuticals and Pharming Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	-625.06%	-591.84%	-100.16%
Pharming Group	-4.00%	-4.54%	-2.15%

Summary

Verrica Pharmaceuticals beats Pharming Group on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts. The company also develops VP-315, an oncolytic peptide-based injectable therapy, which is in phase II clinical trial for the treatment of dermatology oncologic conditions which includes basal cell carcinoma; and VP-103, a cantharidin-based product candidate for the treatment of plantar warts and is in phase II clinical trial. In addition, it offers YCANTH for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum. The company has a collaboration and license agreement with Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of its product candidates for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum and common warts in Japan, including VP-102; and a license agreement with Lytix Biopharma AS to develop and commercialize VP-315 for dermatological oncology indications, such as non-metastatic melanoma and non-metastatic merkel cell carcinoma. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

About Pharming Group

Pharming Group N.V., a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes protein replacement therapies and precision medicines for the treatment of rare diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company's commercialized product is RUCONEST, a plasma-free rhC1INH protein replacement therapy for the treatment acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks. It also engages in the development of leniolisib for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome; OTL-105, an investigational ex-vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy for the treatment of HAE; and alpha-glucosidase therapy for the treatment of Pompe and fabry diseases. The company has a development collaboration and license agreement with Novartis; and a strategic collaboration agreement with Orchard Therapeutics plc for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of OTL-105. Pharming Group N.V. is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands.