Critical Comparison: Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) & Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON)

Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AUPH) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

8.7% of Cronos Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 7.3% of Cronos Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of Aurinia Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Cronos Group has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.51, indicating that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Cronos Group and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cronos Group	1	2	2	0	2.20
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	0	4	2	0	2.33

Cronos Group presently has a consensus target price of $2.30, suggesting a potential downside of 14.18%. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $17.25, suggesting a potential upside of 7.95%. Given Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Aurinia Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Cronos Group.

Profitability

This table compares Cronos Group and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cronos Group	-6.44%	-1.12%	-1.07%
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	101.46%	27.47%	19.61%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cronos Group and Aurinia Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cronos Group	$146.59 million	6.88	-$9.45 million	($0.01)	-268.00
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals	$283.05 million	7.34	$287.20 million	$2.08	7.68

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

Summary

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals beats Cronos Group on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cronos Group

Cronos Group Inc. operates as a cannabinoid company that engages in the cultivation, production and marketing of cannabis products in Canada, Israel, and Germany. It offers dried flower, pre-rolls, oils, vaporizers, edibles, and cannabis tinctures under the Spinach, Lord Jones, and PEACE NATURALS brands. Cronos Group Inc. was founded in 2012 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

About Aurinia Pharmaceuticals

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to treat various diseases with unmet medical need in the United States. It offers LUPKYNIS for the treatment of adult patients with active lupus nephritis. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.