Reviewing Ascend Wellness (OTCMKTS:AAWH) & Chugai Pharmaceutical (OTCMKTS:CHGCY)

Ascend Wellness (OTCMKTS:AAWH) and Chugai Pharmaceutical (OTCMKTS:CHGCY) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Ascend Wellness has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chugai Pharmaceutical has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ascend Wellness and Chugai Pharmaceutical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ascend Wellness	-23.31%	N/A	-10.85%
Chugai Pharmaceutical	35.09%	23.76%	19.92%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

17.3% of Ascend Wellness shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Chugai Pharmaceutical shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.9% of Ascend Wellness shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ascend Wellness and Chugai Pharmaceutical, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ascend Wellness	0	1	0	0	2.00
Chugai Pharmaceutical	0	3	1	1	2.60

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ascend Wellness and Chugai Pharmaceutical”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ascend Wellness	$500.58 million	0.18	-$118.19 million	($0.57)	-0.76
Chugai Pharmaceutical	$8.41 billion	7.50	$2.91 billion	$0.92	20.83

Chugai Pharmaceutical has higher revenue and earnings than Ascend Wellness. Ascend Wellness is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chugai Pharmaceutical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Chugai Pharmaceutical beats Ascend Wellness on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ascend Wellness

Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. engages in the cultivation, manufacture, and distribution of cannabis consumer packaged goods in the United States. The company offers flower, pre-rolls, concentrates, vapes, edibles, tinctures, and other cannabis-related products under the Common Goods, SimplyHerb, Ozone, Ozone Reserve, Royale, Tunnel Vision, Miss Grass, Lowell Smokes, Edie Parker, 1906, and AiroPro brands. It also owns, operates, and manages cannabis cultivation facilities and dispensaries. The company sells its products through company-owned retail stores and third-party licensed retail cannabis stores. Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Chugai Pharmaceutical

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research, development, manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of pharmaceuticals in Japan and internationally. The company’s products for oncology primarily include Avastin, FoundationOne, Polivy, Rozlytrek, Tecentriq, Perjeta, Alecensa, Herceptin, Kadcyla, Rituxan, and Gazyva; Edirol, an Osteoporosis agent; Mircera, an erythropoiesis agent; Oxarol, an agent for secondary hyperparathyroidism; and other diseases comprise Hemlibra, CellCept, Bonviva, Tamiflu, Evrysdi, Ronapreve, Vabysmo, and Enspryng. It has various development product candidates in the areas of oncology, immunology, neuroscience, hematology, ophthalmology, and other diseases. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has strategic alliances and collaboration with Roche Group. The company was founded in 1925 and is headquartered in Chuo, Japan. Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of Roche Holding Ltd.