Analyzing Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Exicure (NASDAQ:XCUR)

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Exicure (NASDAQ:XCUR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Eli Lilly and Company and Exicure, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Eli Lilly and Company	0	2	17	0	2.89
Exicure	0	0	0	0	0.00

Eli Lilly and Company presently has a consensus target price of $1,017.67, suggesting a potential upside of 35.40%. Given Eli Lilly and Company’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Eli Lilly and Company is more favorable than Exicure.

Volatility and Risk

Eli Lilly and Company has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exicure has a beta of 3.74, indicating that its share price is 274% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Eli Lilly and Company and Exicure’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Eli Lilly and Company	23.51%	85.24%	16.19%
Exicure	N/A	-190.90%	-36.75%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Eli Lilly and Company and Exicure”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Eli Lilly and Company	$45.04 billion	15.82	$10.59 billion	$11.71	64.19
Exicure	$500,000.00	145.31	-$16.91 million	($4.81)	-2.39

Eli Lilly and Company has higher revenue and earnings than Exicure. Exicure is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eli Lilly and Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.5% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.8% of Exicure shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Exicure shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Eli Lilly and Company beats Exicure on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity. It also provides oncology products, including Alimta, Cyramza, Erbitux, Jaypirca, Retevmo, Tyvyt, and Verzenio. In addition, the company offers Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, severe alopecia areata, and COVID-19; Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis; Omvoh for ulcerative colitis; Cymbalta for depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain; Ebglyss for severe atopic dermatitis; and Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache. Further, it provides Cialis for erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia; and Forteo for osteoporosis. It has collaborations with Incyte Corporation; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Genentech, Inc.; Biologics, Inc., AbCellera Biologics Inc.; and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Exicure

Exicure, Inc., an early-stage biotechnology company, develops nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid against validated targets. The company's preclinical candidate includes SCN9A that is in preclinical studies for the treatment of chronic pain. It also develops immuno-oncology therapeutics based on its proprietary SNA technology. Exicure, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.