Critical Survey: Amarin (NASDAQ:AMRN) vs. Leap Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LPTX)

Amarin (NASDAQ:AMRN) and Leap Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LPTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Amarin and Leap Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amarin	0	0	1	0	3.00
Leap Therapeutics	0	0	3	0	3.00

Leap Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $7.50, indicating a potential upside of 123.21%. Given Leap Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Leap Therapeutics is more favorable than Amarin.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.3% of Amarin shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.5% of Leap Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Amarin shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Leap Therapeutics shares are owned 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Amarin and Leap Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amarin	$241.02 million	0.90	-$59.11 million	($0.09)	-5.89
Leap Therapeutics	$1.50 million	85.83	-$81.41 million	($1.93)	-1.74

Amarin has higher revenue and earnings than Leap Therapeutics. Amarin is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Leap Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Amarin has a beta of 1.82, suggesting that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Leap Therapeutics has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its stock price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Amarin and Leap Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amarin	-16.33%	-7.22%	-4.96%
Leap Therapeutics	N/A	-116.24%	-93.18%

Summary

Leap Therapeutics beats Amarin on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amarin

Amarin Corporation plc, a pharmaceutical company, engages in the development and commercialization of therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the United States, European countries, Canada, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates. The company offers VASCEPA, a prescription-only omega-3 fatty acid product, used as an adjunct to diet for reducing triglyceride levels in adult patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia. It sells its products principally to wholesalers and specialty pharmacy providers. The company has a collaboration with Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to develop and commercialize drug products and indications based on the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Vascepa. The company was formerly known as Ethical Holdings plc and changed its name to Amarin Corporation plc in 1999. Amarin Corporation plc was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Leap Therapeutics

Leap Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, acquires and develops antibody therapies for the treatment of cancer. Its lead product candidates include DKN-01, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits Dickkopf-related protein 1, which is in multiple ongoing clinical trials for treating esophagogastric and gynecologic cancers; and FL-301, a monoclonal antibody that targets cells that express Claudin18.2 on their cell surface and is in phase II clinical trial, as well as two preclinical antibody programs, FL-302 and FL-501. Leap Therapeutics, Inc. has an option and license agreement with NovaRock, Adimab, and BeiGene, Ltd. to develop and commercialize DKN-01 in Asia (excluding Japan), Australia, and New Zealand. The company was formerly known as HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Leap Therapeutics, Inc. in November 2015. Leap Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.