Helix BioPharma (OTCMKTS:HBPCF) & Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) Critical Comparison

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) and Helix BioPharma (OTCMKTS:HBPCF) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Helix BioPharma has a beta of 0.01, suggesting that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and Helix BioPharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	2.30%	-6.37%	4.61%
Helix BioPharma	N/A	-5,403.56%	-558.90%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and Helix BioPharma, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	0	3	5	0	2.63
Helix BioPharma	0	0	0	0	N/A

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $13.57, suggesting a potential upside of 196.97%. Given Ironwood Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Helix BioPharma.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ironwood Pharmaceuticals and Helix BioPharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	$442.73 million	1.65	-$1.00 billion	($6.79)	-0.67
Helix BioPharma	N/A	N/A	-$4.69 million	($0.02)	-45.50

Helix BioPharma has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. Helix BioPharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals beats Helix BioPharma on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a healthcare company, focuses on the development and commercialization of gastrointestinal (GI) products. It markets linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase type-C (GC-C) agonist for the treatment of adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation under the LINZESS name in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China, as well as under the CONSTELLA name in the Canada and European countries. The company is also developing IW-3300, a GC-C agonist for the treatment of visceral pain conditions, including interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and endometriosis; Apraglutide, a next-generation, long-acting synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2, as a differentiated therapeutic for rare diseases, including short bowel syndrome dependent on parenteral support and acute graft versus host disease; and CNP-104, an immune nanoparticle for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis. The company has strategic partnerships with AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca AB, and Astellas Pharma Inc. for the development and commercialization of linaclotide. The company was formerly known as Microbia, Inc. and changed its name to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in April 2008. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Helix BioPharma

Helix BioPharma Corp. operates as an immune-oncology company in Canada. It is developing L-DOS47 for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer; and V-DOS47 that targets the vascular epithelial growth factor receptor 2. Helix BioPharma Corp. has collaboration agreements with Moffitt Cancer Center to investigate the pharmacodynamics of L-DOS47 and determine the benefits of combining L-DOS47 with immune checkpoint inhibitors; and with University Hospital Tuebingen to assess the therapeutic response of L-DOS47 in cancer models expressing CEACAM6, with advanced preclinical metabolic imaging. The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.