Comparing Prestige Consumer Healthcare (NYSE:PBH) and MediciNova (NASDAQ:MNOV)

MediciNova (NASDAQ:MNOV) and Prestige Consumer Healthcare (NYSE:PBH) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

9.9% of MediciNova shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of Prestige Consumer Healthcare shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.9% of MediciNova shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Prestige Consumer Healthcare shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

MediciNova has a beta of 0.72, suggesting that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prestige Consumer Healthcare has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for MediciNova and Prestige Consumer Healthcare, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MediciNova	0	0	0	0	N/A
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	0	1	3	0	2.75

Prestige Consumer Healthcare has a consensus price target of $98.75, suggesting a potential upside of 34.26%. Given Prestige Consumer Healthcare’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Prestige Consumer Healthcare is more favorable than MediciNova.

Profitability

This table compares MediciNova and Prestige Consumer Healthcare’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MediciNova	N/A	-13.37%	-12.67%
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	18.43%	12.55%	6.11%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MediciNova and Prestige Consumer Healthcare”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MediciNova	$1.00 million	82.89	-$8.56 million	($0.17)	-9.94
Prestige Consumer Healthcare	$1.13 billion	3.24	$209.34 million	$4.17	17.64

Prestige Consumer Healthcare has higher revenue and earnings than MediciNova. MediciNova is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Prestige Consumer Healthcare, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Prestige Consumer Healthcare beats MediciNova on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MediciNova

MediciNova, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing novel and small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases with unmet medical needs in the United States. It is developing MN-166 (ibudilast), an oral anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective agent for treating neurological and other disorders, such as primary and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, degenerative cervical myelopathy, glioblastoma, and substance dependence and addiction, as well as prevention of acute respiratory distress syndrome, and long COVID. The company's product pipeline also includes MN-221 (bedoradrine), a selective beta-2-adrenergic receptor agonist for the treatment of acute exacerbations of asthma; MN-001 (tipelukast), an orally bioavailable small molecule compound to treat fibrotic and other diseases, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; and MN-029 (denibulin), a tubulin binding agent for treating solid tumor cancers. It has license agreements with Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd; Angiogene Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.; and Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. The company was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in La Jolla, California.

About Prestige Consumer Healthcare

Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells over-the-counter (OTC) health and personal care products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American OTC Healthcare and International OTC Healthcare. It offers BC/Goody's analgesic powders, Boudreaux's Butt Paste baby ointments, Chloraseptic sore throat liquids and lozenges, Clear Eyes for eye redness relief, Compound W wart removals, DenTek for PEG oral care, Debrox ear wax removals, and Dramamine for motion sickness relief. The company also provides Fleet adult enemas/suppositories, Gaviscon upset stomach remedies, Luden's cough drops, Monistat vaginal anti-fungal, Nix lice/parasite treatments, Summer's Eve feminine hygiene, TheraTears dry eye relief, Fess nasal saline spray and washes, and Hydralyte for oral rehydration products. It sells its products through mass merchandisers; and drug, food, dollar, convenience, and club stores, as well as e-commerce channels. The company was formerly known as Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. in August 2018. Prestige Consumer Healthcare Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Tarrytown, New York.