Critical Analysis: Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) vs. Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH)

Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Takeda Pharmaceutical has a beta of -0.02, indicating that its share price is 102% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.2% of Takeda Pharmaceutical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Takeda Pharmaceutical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.6% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Takeda Pharmaceutical and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Takeda Pharmaceutical	$28.32 billion	2.42	-$1.01 billion	$0.76	28.20
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$745.79 million	1.68	$98.09 million	$2.19	13.41

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Takeda Pharmaceutical and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Takeda Pharmaceutical	0	1	2	1	3.00
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	1	7	0	0	1.88

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $23.33, suggesting a potential downside of 20.55%. Given Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Takeda Pharmaceutical.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Takeda Pharmaceutical	8.26%	11.51%	5.59%
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	13.27%	15.31%	7.15%

Summary

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals beats Takeda Pharmaceutical on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company is a Japan-based global biopharmaceutical company that researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and vaccines. Founded in Osaka in 1781 as a medicine wholesaler, it has grown into an international pharmaceutical business headquartered in Tokyo. The company focuses on gastroenterology and inflammation, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology, neuroscience and vaccines. Its portfolio includes treatments for conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and hereditary angioedema, along with medicines and vaccines across its other therapeutic areas.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets generic and proprietary medicines, with a focus on products that can be technically challenging to produce. Its offerings include injectable, inhalation and intranasal medicines, as well as insulin active pharmaceutical ingredients. The company’s products include treatments and emergency medicines such as enoxaparin, glucagon and epinephrine products. Amphastar also markets BAQSIMI, a nasal powder used to treat severe low blood sugar, and Primatene MIST, an over-the-counter asthma inhaler.