Liquidia (LQDA) Competitors

Heron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HRTX) and Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, earnings, community ranking and profitability.

Do analysts recommend HRTX or LQDA?

Heron Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $5.67, indicating a potential upside of 415.15%. Liquidia has a consensus price target of $24.00, indicating a potential upside of 137.15%. Given Heron Therapeutics' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Heron Therapeutics is more favorable than Liquidia.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heron Therapeutics	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Liquidia	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90

Which has more risk & volatility, HRTX or LQDA?

Heron Therapeutics has a beta of 1.81, meaning that its share price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Liquidia has a beta of 0.21, meaning that its share price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is HRTX or LQDA more profitable?

Heron Therapeutics has a net margin of -20.31% compared to Liquidia's net margin of -765.38%. Heron Therapeutics' return on equity of 0.00% beat Liquidia's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heron Therapeutics	-20.31%	N/A	-12.72%
Liquidia	-765.38%	-163.21%	-67.14%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in HRTX or LQDA?

80.0% of Heron Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.5% of Liquidia shares are held by institutional investors. 5.8% of Heron Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.1% of Liquidia shares are held by 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HRTX or LQDA?

Heron Therapeutics received 462 more outperform votes than Liquidia when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.10% of users gave Heron Therapeutics an outperform vote while only 68.03% of users gave Liquidia an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Heron Therapeutics	Outperform Votes 662 69.10%	Underperform Votes 296 30.90%
Liquidia	Outperform Votes 200 68.03%	Underperform Votes 94 31.97%

Which has better valuation & earnings, HRTX or LQDA?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heron Therapeutics	$127.04M	1.32	-$110.56M	-$0.18	-6.11
Liquidia	$17.49M	48.97	-$78.50M	-$1.63	-6.21

Does the media refer more to HRTX or LQDA?

In the previous week, Liquidia had 9 more articles in the media than Heron Therapeutics. MarketBeat recorded 16 mentions for Liquidia and 7 mentions for Heron Therapeutics. Liquidia's average media sentiment score of 0.65 beat Heron Therapeutics' score of 0.09 indicating that Liquidia is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Heron Therapeutics	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Liquidia	2 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Heron Therapeutics beats Liquidia on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.