Head to Head Contrast: Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) and XBiotech (NASDAQ:XBIT)

XBiotech (NASDAQ:XBIT) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares XBiotech and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
XBiotech	$4.01 million	23.64	-$24.56 million	($1.08)	-2.88
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	$220.36 million	5.11	-$78.02 million	($0.15)	-52.47

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

Profitability

This table compares XBiotech and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
XBiotech	N/A	-15.99%	-14.85%
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	-10.23%	-4.41%	-3.07%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.7% of XBiotech shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.1% of XBiotech shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

XBiotech has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for XBiotech and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
XBiotech	0	0	0	0	0.00
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	0	0	2	0	3.00

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $11.50, indicating a potential upside of 46.12%. Given Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than XBiotech.

About XBiotech

XBiotech Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes True Human monoclonal antibodies for treating various diseases. The company focuses on developing a pipeline of product candidates targeting both inflammatory and infectious diseases. It is also developing interleukin-1 alpha therapies to treat variety of medical conditions, such as cancer, stroke, heart attack, or arthritis; and mediates tissue breakdown, angiogenesis, the formation of blood clots, malaise, muscle wasting, and inflammation. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to treat various diseases with unmet medical need in the United States. It offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.