Head to Head Review: Seelos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SEEL) & Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) and Seelos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SEEL) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Viking Therapeutics has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Seelos Therapeutics has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Viking Therapeutics and Seelos Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Viking Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$85.89 million	($0.93)	-75.77
Seelos Therapeutics	$2.20 million	0.20	-$37.88 million	N/A	N/A

Seelos Therapeutics has higher revenue and earnings than Viking Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Viking Therapeutics and Seelos Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Viking Therapeutics	N/A	-15.05%	-14.52%
Seelos Therapeutics	203.13%	N/A	-431.47%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.0% of Viking Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.4% of Seelos Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of Viking Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Seelos Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Viking Therapeutics and Seelos Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Viking Therapeutics	0	0	10	1	3.09
Seelos Therapeutics	0	0	0	0	N/A

Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $108.60, indicating a potential upside of 54.11%. Given Viking Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Viking Therapeutics is more favorable than Seelos Therapeutics.

Summary

Seelos Therapeutics beats Viking Therapeutics on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD. It also develops VK5211, an orally available non-steroidal selective androgen receptor modulator that is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of patients recovering from non-elective hip fracture surgery; VK0612, an orally available Phase IIb-ready drug candidate for type 2 diabetes; VK2735, a novel dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide, which is in Phase 1 SAD/MAD clinical trial, and VK0214, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the TRß for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Seelos Therapeutics

Seelos Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system, respiratory, and other disorders. The company's lead programs are SLS-002, an intranasal racemic ketamine for the treatment of acute suicidal ideation and behavior in patients with major depressive disorders; SLS-005, a protein stabilizer for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Sanfilippo syndrome; and SLS-006, a partial dopamine agonist for the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Its preclinical programs include SLS-007, a peptidic inhibitor to treat patients with PD; SLS-008 for the treatment of pediatric indications; SLS-004 for the treatment of PD; SLS-010, an H3 receptor antagonist; and SLS-012. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.