Contrasting PainReform (NASDAQ:PRFX) & Unity Biotechnology (NASDAQ:UBX)

PainReform (NASDAQ:PRFX) and Unity Biotechnology (NASDAQ:UBX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for PainReform and Unity Biotechnology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PainReform	0	1	0	0	2.00
Unity Biotechnology	0	0	2	0	3.00

PainReform currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 153.16%. Unity Biotechnology has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 550.41%. Given Unity Biotechnology’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Unity Biotechnology is more favorable than PainReform.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

37.3% of PainReform shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.5% of Unity Biotechnology shares are held by institutional investors. 34.4% of PainReform shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.8% of Unity Biotechnology shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

PainReform has a beta of 0.56, indicating that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Unity Biotechnology has a beta of 0.83, indicating that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PainReform and Unity Biotechnology”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PainReform	N/A	N/A	-$9.34 million	($147.33)	-0.02
Unity Biotechnology	$240,000.00	86.36	-$39.86 million	($1.31)	-0.94

PainReform has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Unity Biotechnology. Unity Biotechnology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PainReform, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares PainReform and Unity Biotechnology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PainReform	N/A	-450.64%	-241.33%
Unity Biotechnology	N/A	-119.70%	-45.86%

Summary

Unity Biotechnology beats PainReform on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PainReform

PainReform Ltd., a clinical stage specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the reformulation of established therapeutics and provides an extended period of post-surgical pain relief in Israel. It develops PRF-110, a viscous clear oil-based solution that is instilled directly into the surgical wound to provide localized and extended post-operative analgesia, as well as in Phase 3 clinical trial for pain treatment of patients undergoing bunionectomy and second trial for pain treatment of hernia repair operations. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

About Unity Biotechnology

Unity Biotechnology, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the research and development of therapeutics to slow, halt, or reverse diseases of aging. The company's lead drug candidate includes UBX1325, which is Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of age-related diseases of the eye, including diabetic macular edema, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. It also develops UBX1967 for the treatment of ophthalmologic diseases; UBX2048, a Tie2/VEGF bispecific; UBX2050, a human anti-Tie2 agonist monoclonal antibody for the treatment of eye diseases; and UBX2089, a a-Klotho hormone drug candidate for multiple neurology indications. The company was formerly known as Forge, Inc. and changed its name to Unity Biotechnology, Inc. in January 2015. Unity Biotechnology, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.