Contrasting Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) and Urogen Pharma (NASDAQ:URGN)
by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets DailyUrogen Pharma (NASDAQ:URGN – Get Free Report) and Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.
Risk & Volatility
Urogen Pharma has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its stock price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Assembly Biosciences has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Urogen Pharma and Assembly Biosciences, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Urogen Pharma | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2.70 |
| Assembly Biosciences | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2.88 |
Urogen Pharma presently has a consensus target price of $52.38, suggesting a potential upside of 19.03%. Assembly Biosciences has a consensus target price of $45.60, suggesting a potential upside of 42.57%. Given Assembly Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Assembly Biosciences is more favorable than Urogen Pharma.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
91.3% of Urogen Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.9% of Assembly Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of Urogen Pharma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Assembly Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Urogen Pharma and Assembly Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Urogen Pharma | -51.73% | N/A | -43.79% |
| Assembly Biosciences | -0.06% | -0.02% | -0.02% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Urogen Pharma and Assembly Biosciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Urogen Pharma | $109.79 million | 19.59 | -$153.49 million | ($1.98) | -22.22 |
| Assembly Biosciences | $72.30 million | 9.01 | -$6.12 million | $1.02 | 31.36 |
Assembly Biosciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Urogen Pharma. Urogen Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Assembly Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Assembly Biosciences beats Urogen Pharma on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Urogen Pharma
UroGen Pharma Ltd., a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of solutions for urothelial and specialty cancers. It offers RTGel, a novel proprietary polymeric biocompatible, reverse thermal gelation hydrogel technology to improve therapeutic profiles of existing drugs; and Jelmyto for pyelocalyceal solution. The company's lead product candidate is UGN-102 for the treatment of several forms of non-muscle invasive urothelial cancer that include low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer and low-grade intermediate risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). It is also developing UGN-301 for the treatment of high-grade NMIBC. The company has license agreement with Agenus Inc. to develop, make, use, sell, import, and commercialize products of Agenus for the treatment of cancers of the urinary tract via intravesical delivery; strategic research collaboration agreement with MD Anderson focusing on the sequential use of UGN-201 and UGN-301 for the treatment of NMIBC; and licensing and supply agreement with medac Gesellschaft für klinische Spezialpräparate m.b.H. to develop UGN-103 in low-grade intermediate risk NMIBC and UGN-104 in low-grade upper tract urothelial carcinoma. UroGen Pharma Ltd. was incorporated in 2004 and is based in Princeton, New Jersey.
About Assembly Biosciences
Assembly Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops therapeutic candidates for the treatment of viral diseases. It develops ABI-5366, a long-acting herpes simplex virus (HSV) helicase-primase inhibitor that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial to treat recurrent genital herpes; ABI-1179, which is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes; and ABI-6250, a small molecule orally bioavailable hepatitis delta virus entry inhibitor that is in Phase 1a clinical trial. The company also develops ABI-4334, a next-generation capsid assembly modulator, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV). In addition, it develops an oral non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor targeting transplant-related herpesviruses; and a small molecule interferon-a receptor agonist targeting HBV and HDV. The company has collaboration agreements with Gilead Sciences, Inc. and BeiGene, Ltd. The company was formerly known as Ventrus Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Assembly Biosciences, Inc. in June 2014. Assembly Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.