Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) & Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) Head to Head Analysis

Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) and Perrigo (NYSE:PRGO) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.6% of Spero Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Perrigo shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Spero Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Perrigo shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Spero Therapeutics and Perrigo, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Spero Therapeutics	0	2	2	0	2.50
Perrigo	0	3	1	0	2.25

Spero Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 668.05%. Perrigo has a consensus price target of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.11%. Given Spero Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Spero Therapeutics is more favorable than Perrigo.

Volatility and Risk

Spero Therapeutics has a beta of 0.23, suggesting that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Perrigo has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Spero Therapeutics pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.2%. Perrigo pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Spero Therapeutics pays out -4.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Perrigo pays out -88.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Perrigo has increased its dividend for 23 consecutive years.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Spero Therapeutics and Perrigo”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Spero Therapeutics	$28.30 million	1.29	$22.81 million	($1.28)	-0.51
Perrigo	$4.34 billion	0.86	-$12.70 million	($1.31)	-20.63

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

Profitability

This table compares Spero Therapeutics and Perrigo’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Spero Therapeutics	3.30%	4.03%	2.21%
Perrigo	-3.64%	7.38%	3.18%

Summary

Spero Therapeutics beats Perrigo on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Spero Therapeutics

Spero Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on identifying, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial infections and rare diseases in the United States. The company’s product candidates include tebipenem pivoxil hydrobromide (HBr), an oral carbapenem-class antibiotic to treat complicated urinary tract infections, including pyelonephritis for adults; SPR206, an intravenous-administered antibiotic against MDR Gram-negative pathogens comprising carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE), acinetobacter baumannii, and pseudomonas aeruginosa, as well as negative bacterial infections in the hospital setting; and SPR720, a novel oral antibiotic agent for the treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease. It has license agreement with Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd. to support the development of tebipenem HBr; Everest Medicines to develop, manufacture, and commercialize SPR206 in Greater China, South Korea, and Southeast Asian countries; and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated for patents relating to SPR720, as well as SPR719, an active metabolite. Spero Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Perrigo

Perrigo Company plc provides over-the-counter health and wellness solutions to enhance individual well-being in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Consumer Self-Care Americas and Consumer Self-Care International segments. The company develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes self-care consumer products, such as upper respiratory products, including cough suppressants, expectorants, and sinus and allergy relief; nutrition products consisting of infant formulas and nutritional beverages; digestive health products, including antacids, anti-diarrheal, and anti-heartburn; pain and sleep-aids products comprising pain relievers and fever reducers; and oral care products, which include toothbrushes, toothbrush replacement heads, floss, flossers, whitening products, and toothbrush covers. It also offers healthy lifestyle products, such as smoking cessation, well-being, and weight management products; skin care products consisting of dermatological care, scar management, lice treatment, and other products for various skin conditions; women's health products comprising feminine hygiene and contraceptives; vitamins, minerals, and supplements; rare diseases business; and other miscellaneous self-care products. The company sells its products under the Compeed, Dr. Fresh, Firefly, Good Sense, Good Start, Mederma, Nasonex, Plackers, Prevacid24HR, REACH, Rembrandt, Steripod, Opill, Solpadeine, Coldrex, Physiomer, NiQuitin, ACO, ellaOne, Compeed Stops, XLS, Arterin, Davitamon, Apiserum, Abtei, and Nicorette brands. It also offers contract manufacturing services. The company sells its products through retail drug, supermarket, and mass merchandise chains; e-commerce stores; wholesalers; pharmacies; drug and grocery retailers; and para-pharmacies. The company was formerly known as Perrigo Company and changed its name to Perrigo Company plc in December 2013. Perrigo Company plc was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.