Critical Survey: Marinus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MRNS) & Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KNSA)

Marinus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MRNS) and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KNSA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.8% of Marinus Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.0% of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.5% of Marinus Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 54.6% of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Marinus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.03, suggesting that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its share price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Marinus Pharmaceuticals and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Marinus Pharmaceuticals	$30.99 million	0.98	-$141.40 million	($2.47)	-0.22
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals	$423.24 million	3.71	$14.08 million	($0.61)	-35.41

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Marinus Pharmaceuticals and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Marinus Pharmaceuticals	0	8	2	1	2.36
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals	0	0	6	0	3.00

Marinus Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $4.79, suggesting a potential upside of 771.56%. Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $37.17, suggesting a potential upside of 72.07%. Given Marinus Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marinus Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Marinus Pharmaceuticals and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Marinus Pharmaceuticals	-446.48%	-7,831.35%	-120.74%
Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals	-2.36%	-7.31%	-5.95%

Summary

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals beats Marinus Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Marinus Pharmaceuticals

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, focuses on development and commercialization of therapeutic products for patients suffering from rare genetic epilepsies and other seizure disorders. It offers ZTALMY (ganaxolone), an oral suspension for the treatment of seizures associated with cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 deficiency disorder for adult and pediatric patient populations in acute and chronic care, and in-patient and self-administered settings. The company's ZTALMY product candidate acts at synaptic and extrasynaptic GABAA receptors, a target for its anti-seizure, antidepressant, and anxiolytic potential. It is developing ganaxolone for treating genetic epilepsy disorders, such as PCDH19-related epilepsy, and tuberous sclerosis complex. Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has license agreement with Purdue Neuroscience Company and CyDex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and collaboration agreement with Orion Corporation and Tenacia Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

About Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals

Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, acquiring, developing, and commercializing therapeutic medicines for patients suffering from debilitating diseases with significant unmet medical needs worldwide. Its product candidates include ARCALYST, an interleukin-1alpha and interleukin-1beta, for the treatment of recurrent pericarditis, which is an inflammatory cardiovascular disease; Mavrilimumab, a monoclonal antibody inhibitor that completed Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of giant cell arteritis; Vixarelimab, a monoclonal antibody, that is in Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of prurigo nodularis, a chronic inflammatory skin condition; and KPL-404, a monoclonal antibody inhibitor of the CD40- CD154 interaction, a T-cell co-stimulatory signal critical for B-cell maturation, immunoglobulin class switching, and type 1 immune response. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.