Critical Review: Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX) versus Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS)

Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX) and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Neurocrine Biosciences and Acumen Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Neurocrine Biosciences	0	5	18	1	2.83
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	0	0	3	1	3.25

Neurocrine Biosciences presently has a consensus target price of $163.91, indicating a potential upside of 39.57%. Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 275.00%. Given Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acumen Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Neurocrine Biosciences.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

92.6% of Neurocrine Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of Neurocrine Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Neurocrine Biosciences and Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Neurocrine Biosciences	17.21%	15.68%	11.38%
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-32.99%	-27.99%

Risk and Volatility

Neurocrine Biosciences has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.04, meaning that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Neurocrine Biosciences and Acumen Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Neurocrine Biosciences	$1.89 billion	6.30	$249.70 million	$3.73	31.49
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$52.37 million	($1.38)	-1.74

Neurocrine Biosciences has higher revenue and earnings than Acumen Pharmaceuticals. Acumen Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Neurocrine Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Neurocrine Biosciences beats Acumen Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Neurocrine Biosciences

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. discovers, develops, and markets pharmaceuticals for neurological, neuroendocrine, and neuropsychiatric disorders in the United States and internationally. The company’s products include INGREZZA for tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington’s disease; ALKINDI for adrenal insufficiency; Efmody capsules for classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia; Orilissa tablets for endometriosis; and Oriahnn capsules to treat uterine fibroids. Its product candidates in clinical development include valbenazine to treat dyskinetic cerebral palsy in pediatrics and adults; NBI-921352 to treat developmental and epileptic encephalopathy syndrome in pediatrics and adults; NBI-827104 to treat epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spike-and-wave during sleep; NBI-1076986 to treat movement disorders; crinecerfront to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia in adults and children; EFMODY to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal insufficiency in adults; valbenazine for the adjunctive treatment of schizophrenia; NBI-1065845 for the treatment of inadequate response to treatment in major depressive disorder; luvadaxistat to treat cognitive impairment related to schizophrenia; NBI-1117568 for the treatment of schizophrenia; NBI-1070770 to treat major depressive disorder; NBI-1117570 for the treatment of symptoms of psychosis and cognition in neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions; and NBI-1117569, NBI-1117567, and NBI-1065890 to treat CNS indications. The company also has license and collaboration agreements with Heptares Therapeutics Limited; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Voyager Therapeutics, Inc.; BIAL Portela & Ca, S.A.; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation; and AbbVie Inc. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Acumen Pharmaceuticals

Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted therapies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The company focuses on advancing a targeted immunotherapy drug candidate sabirnetug (ACU193), a recombinant humanized immunoglobulin gamma 2 that completed Phase I clinical trial to target soluble amyloid-beta oligomers. The company has a license agreement with Lonza Sales AG to manufacture and commercialize sabirnetug; and a collaboration and license agreement with Halozyme, Inc. for the development of a subcutaneous formulation of sabirnetug. Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.