Financial Survey: VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT) vs. Fennec Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:FENC)

Fennec Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:FENC) and VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.5% of Fennec Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 11.8% of Fennec Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of VectivBio shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Fennec Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.32, suggesting that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VectivBio has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Fennec Pharmaceuticals and VectivBio, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fennec Pharmaceuticals	0	0	3	1	3.25
VectivBio	0	0	0	0	0.00

Fennec Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus target price of $13.00, suggesting a potential upside of 98.47%. Given Fennec Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Fennec Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than VectivBio.

Profitability

This table compares Fennec Pharmaceuticals and VectivBio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fennec Pharmaceuticals	-2.30%	-53.38%	-2.08%
VectivBio	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fennec Pharmaceuticals and VectivBio”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fennec Pharmaceuticals	$47.54 million	3.80	-$16.05 million	($0.06)	-109.17
VectivBio	$27.34 million	20.97	-$93.74 million	N/A	N/A

Fennec Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than VectivBio.

Summary

Fennec Pharmaceuticals beats VectivBio on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fennec Pharmaceuticals

Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops product candidates for use in the treatment of cancer in the United States. Its lead product candidate is the Sodium Thiosulfate, which has completed the Phase III clinical trial for the prevention of cisplatin induced hearing loss or ototoxicity in children. The company was formerly known as Adherex Technologies Inc. and changed its name to Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. in September 2014. Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in 1996 and is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

About VectivBio

VectivBio Holding AG, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of medicines for treatments of severe rare conditions. It develops apraglutide, a long-acting synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2 that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of patients with short bowel syndrome-intestinal failure (SBS-IF), as well as apraglutide is in Phase II clinical trial for SBS-IF in patients with colon-in-continuity anatomy. The company is also developing apraglutide, which is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with steroid-refractory gastrointestinal acute versus host disease (aGvHD). VectivBio Holding AG was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. As of June 29, 2023, VectivBio Holding AG operates as a subsidiary of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.