Financial Review: CorMedix (NASDAQ:CRMD) and Regulus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RGLS)

CorMedix (NASDAQ:CRMD) and Regulus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RGLS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CorMedix and Regulus Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CorMedix	0	0	5	0	3.00
Regulus Therapeutics	0	1	5	0	2.83

CorMedix presently has a consensus target price of $15.20, suggesting a potential upside of 39.32%. Regulus Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $10.80, suggesting a potential upside of 660.56%. Given Regulus Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Regulus Therapeutics is more favorable than CorMedix.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

34.2% of CorMedix shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.4% of Regulus Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of CorMedix shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of Regulus Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CorMedix	$60,000.00	11,033.65	-$46.34 million	($0.81)	-13.47
Regulus Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$30.04 million	($1.07)	-1.33

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

Profitability

This table compares CorMedix and Regulus Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CorMedix	N/A	-79.21%	-64.68%
Regulus Therapeutics	N/A	-53.07%	-48.58%

Risk & Volatility

CorMedix has a beta of 1.58, indicating that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Regulus Therapeutics has a beta of 1.63, indicating that its share price is 63% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Regulus Therapeutics beats CorMedix on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CorMedix

CorMedix Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for the prevention and treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases in the United States. Its lead product candidate is DefenCath, an antimicrobial catheter lock solution to reduce the incidence of catheter-related bloodstream infections in adult patients with kidney failure. The company was formerly known as Picton Holding Company, Inc. and changed its name to CorMedix, Inc. in January 2007. CorMedix Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.

About Regulus Therapeutics

Regulus Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovery and development of drugs that targets microRNAs to treat a range of diseases in the United States. Its product candidates include RGLS8429, an anti-miR next generation oligonucleotide targeting miR-17, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. The company is also developing a pipeline of preclinical drug products for target organ-selective delivery strategies. Regulus Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.