Critical Analysis: Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF) vs. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.7% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 26.2% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	30.13%	8.90%	6.86%
Zealand Pharma A/S	58.86%	17.56%	16.17%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	0	5	13	0	2.72
Zealand Pharma A/S	0	8	1	2	2.45

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $31.55, suggesting a potential upside of 72.61%. Given ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Zealand Pharma A/S.

Risk & Volatility

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zealand Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Zealand Pharma A/S”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	$1.20 billion	2.62	$391.00 million	$2.11	8.66
Zealand Pharma A/S	$1.40 billion	1.88	$977.29 million	$6.03	6.09

Zealand Pharma A/S has higher revenue and earnings than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. Zealand Pharma A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Zealand Pharma A/S beats ACADIA Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for neurological and rare diseases. Founded in 1993 and headquartered in San Diego, California, the company conducts research and development alongside its commercial operations. Its marketed products include NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), approved in the United States to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, and DAYBUE (trofinetide), a treatment for Rett syndrome.

About Zealand Pharma A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S is a biotechnology company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1998, it discovers and develops peptide-based medicines, with a focus on metabolic diseases and rare conditions. The company’s portfolio has included Zegalogue (dasiglucagon), an injectable treatment approved in the United States for severe hypoglycemia in people with diabetes. Zealand also develops investigational medicines for areas such as obesity, liver disease and rare gastrointestinal disorders, and works with pharmaceutical partners to advance and commercialize selected programs.