Comparing Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) and Rani Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RANI)

Rani Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RANI) and Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Rani Therapeutics and Akebia Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rani Therapeutics	$2.72 million	27.38	-$33.97 million	($1.06)	-1.23
Akebia Therapeutics	$169.88 million	2.30	-$51.92 million	($0.23)	-7.78

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

Risk & Volatility

Rani Therapeutics has a beta of 0.05, meaning that its stock price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Akebia Therapeutics has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

30.2% of Rani Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.9% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 53.3% of Rani Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Rani Therapeutics and Akebia Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rani Therapeutics	N/A	-219.64%	-56.71%
Akebia Therapeutics	-27.07%	N/A	-20.57%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Rani Therapeutics and Akebia Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rani Therapeutics	0	0	6	1	3.14
Akebia Therapeutics	0	0	1	0	3.00

Rani Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $11.71, indicating a potential upside of 801.10%. Akebia Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $7.50, indicating a potential upside of 318.99%. Given Rani Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Rani Therapeutics is more favorable than Akebia Therapeutics.

Summary

Rani Therapeutics beats Akebia Therapeutics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rani Therapeutics

Rani Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. operates as a clinical stage biotherapeutics company that develops orally administered biologics for patients, physicians, and healthcare systems in the United States. The company develops the RaniPill capsule, a drug-agnostic oral delivery platform to deliver a variety of drug substances, including oligonucleotides, peptides, proteins, and antibodies. Its product pipeline includes RT-102, a parathyroid hormone that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of osteoporosis; RT-105, an anti-TNF-alpha antibody that is in preclinical studies to treat psoriatic arthritis; RT-110, a parathyroid hormone for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism; and RT-111, an ustekinumab biosimilar for the treatment of various inflammatory conditions. Rani Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Akebia Therapeutics

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney diseases. The company’s lead product investigational product candidate is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, which is in Phase III development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent patients. It offers Auryxia, a ferric citrate that is used to control the serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with DD-CKD on dialysis; and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis. The company’s product pipeline includes AKB-9090, a drug targeting critical-care indications; and AKB-10108, a drug targeting conditions related to premature birth. It has collaboration agreements with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for the development and commercialization of vadadustat in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as research and license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV for the development and commercialization of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase targeted compounds worldwide. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.