Reviewing Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) and Nuvo Pharmaceuticals (OTCMKTS:MRVFF)

Nuvo Pharmaceuticals (OTCMKTS:MRVFF) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Nuvo Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuvo Pharmaceuticals	20.88%	-1,996.22%	14.25%
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	22.88%	29.17%	12.11%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Nuvo Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuvo Pharmaceuticals	$54.98 million	0.20	-$25.70 million	($0.12)	-8.16
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$712.89 million	3.35	$137.54 million	$2.89	16.91

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Nuvo Pharmaceuticals. Nuvo Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Nuvo Pharmaceuticals and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuvo Pharmaceuticals	0	0	0	0	N/A
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	0	2	2	0	2.50

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $63.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.94%. Given Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Nuvo Pharmaceuticals.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.0% of Nuvo Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 27.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Nuvo Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.98, meaning that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals beats Nuvo Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuvo Pharmaceuticals

Nuvo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company, which is engaged in developing innovative therapeutic pharmaceutical products. It operates through the following segments: Commercial Business, Production and Service Business, and Licensing and Royalty Business. The Commercial Business segment includes Blexten, Cambia, the canadian business for Resultz and Suvexx, and mature assets. The Production and Service Business segment supplies Pennsaid to Horizon for the U.S. market and is engaged in ongoing partnering efforts for Pennsaid. The Licensing and Royalty Business segment engages in the selling of Vimovo. The company was founded on August 22, 1983 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency. The company provides Amphadase, an injection to absorb and disperse other injected drugs; Epinephrine injection for allergic reactions; Lidocaine jelly, an anesthetic product for urological procedures; Lidocaine topical solution for various procedures; Phytonadione injection, a vitamin K1 injection for newborn babies; emergency syringe products; morphine injection for use with patient-controlled analgesia pumps; and Lorazepam injection for surgery and medical procedures. In addition, it offers Neostigmine methylsulfate injection to treat myasthenia gravis and to reverse the effects of muscle relaxants; Isoproterenol hydrochloride injection for mild or transient episodes of heart block; Ganirelix Acetate injection for the inhibition of premature luteinizing hormone surges; Vasopressin to increase blood pressure; and Regadenoson, a stress agent for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. Further, the company distributes recombinant human insulin APIs and porcine insulin API. Additionally, it develops generic product candidates, such as injectable, inhalation, and analytical technologies; biosimial product candidates; and intranasal epinephrine for the treatment of allergic reactions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.