Contrasting Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF) and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)
by Sarita Garza · The Markets DailyACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD – Get Free Report) and Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF – Get Free Report) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| ACADIA Pharmaceuticals | 0 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 2.72 |
| Zealand Pharma A/S | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 2.45 |
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $31.45, indicating a potential upside of 49.32%. Given ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Zealand Pharma A/S.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| ACADIA Pharmaceuticals | $1.07 billion | 3.39 | $391.00 million | $2.22 | 9.49 |
| Zealand Pharma A/S | $1.40 billion | 1.81 | $977.29 million | $6.03 | 5.87 |
Zealand Pharma A/S has higher revenue and earnings than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. Zealand Pharma A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zealand Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| ACADIA Pharmaceuticals | 30.13% | 9.12% | 7.02% |
| Zealand Pharma A/S | 58.86% | 17.56% | 16.17% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
96.7% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 26.2% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Zealand Pharma A/S beats ACADIA Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome. It also develops Pimavanserin that is in Phase III ADVANCE-2 study to treat the negative symptoms of schizophrenia; ACP-101 whixh is in Phase III for the treatment of hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome; ACP-204 which is in Phase II for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis; ACP-2591 that is in Phase I for Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome; preclinical antisense oligonucleotide programs; and other programs for neuropsychiatric symptoms. It has a license agreement with Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited to develop and commercialize trofinetide for Rett syndrome and other indications; and a license and collaboration agreement with Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. to discover, develop and commercialize novel RNA-based medicines for the potential treatment of severe and rare genetic neurodevelopmental diseases of the CNS. The company was formerly known as Receptor Technologies, Inc. and changed its name ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1997. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
About Zealand Pharma A/S
Zealand Pharma A/S, a biotechnology company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of peptide-based medicines in Denmark. It has a portfolio of medicines focusing on gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases, and other specialty disease areas with unmet medical needs. The company offers Dasiglucagon, a single use syringe or autoinjector for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; and Dasiglucagon bi-hormone artificial pancreas systems containing insulin and dasiglucagon. Its pipeline includes Dasiglucagon that is in Phase III clinical trials for treating congenital hyperinsulinism. The company is also developing glepaglutide, a long acting GLP-2 analog, which is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of short bowel syndrome. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Søborg, Denmark.