HLS Therapeutics (HLS) Competitors

Cipher Pharmaceuticals (TSE:CPH) and HLS Therapeutics (TSE:HLS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking, dividends and earnings.

Which has more risk & volatility, CPH or HLS?

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HLS Therapeutics has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, CPH or HLS?

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than HLS Therapeutics. HLS Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cipher Pharmaceuticals, 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
Cipher Pharmaceuticals	C$22.16M	15.79	C$22.60M	C$1.25	10.94
HLS Therapeutics	C$58.89M	1.72	-C$24.09M	-C$1.01	-3.15

Is CPH or HLS more profitable?

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has a net margin of 102.01% compared to HLS Therapeutics' net margin of -40.90%. Cipher Pharmaceuticals' return on equity of 28.43% beat HLS Therapeutics' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cipher Pharmaceuticals	102.01%	28.43%	7.90%
HLS Therapeutics	-40.90%	-24.82%	-2.89%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CPH or HLS?

1.4% of Cipher Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.2% of HLS Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 42.0% of Cipher Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of HLS Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CPH or HLS?

Cipher Pharmaceuticals received 147 more outperform votes than HLS Therapeutics when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.67% of users gave HLS Therapeutics an outperform vote while only 62.20% of users gave Cipher Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cipher Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 181 62.20%	Underperform Votes 110 37.80%
HLS Therapeutics	Outperform Votes 34 66.67%	Underperform Votes 17 33.33%

Do analysts prefer CPH or HLS?

Cipher Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of C$12.50, suggesting a potential downside of 8.56%. HLS Therapeutics has a consensus target price of C$3.63, suggesting a potential upside of 13.99%. Given HLS Therapeutics' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe HLS Therapeutics is more favorable than Cipher Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cipher Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
HLS Therapeutics	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor CPH or HLS?

In the previous week, Cipher Pharmaceuticals had 2 more articles in the media than HLS Therapeutics. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Cipher Pharmaceuticals and 6 mentions for HLS Therapeutics. HLS Therapeutics' average media sentiment score of -0.35 beat Cipher Pharmaceuticals' score of -0.75 indicating that HLS Therapeutics is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cipher Pharmaceuticals	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
HLS Therapeutics	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Cipher Pharmaceuticals beats HLS Therapeutics on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.