Scilex (NASDAQ:SCLX) & Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) Head-To-Head Contrast

Scilex (NASDAQ:SCLX) and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMPH) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.7% of Scilex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.1% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Scilex shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.6% of Amphastar Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Scilex and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scilex	$30.25 million	0.66	-$358.73 million	($49.70)	-0.05
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	$730.02 million	1.46	$98.09 million	$1.69	14.88

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

Volatility and Risk

Scilex has a beta of 1.72, meaning that its share price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scilex	-1,414.57%	N/A	-147.00%
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	10.76%	14.98%	6.96%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Scilex and Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scilex	1	0	0	0	1.00
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals	1	7	0	0	1.88

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $22.50, suggesting a potential downside of 10.50%. Given Amphastar Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Amphastar Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Scilex.

Summary

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals beats Scilex on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Scilex

Scilex Holding Company focuses on acquiring, developing, and commercializing non-opioid pain management products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Its commercial products include ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% (ZTlido), a prescription lidocaine topical product for the relief of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a form of post-shingles nerve pain; ELYXYB, a ready-to-use oral solution for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults; and GLOPERBA, a liquid oral version of the anti-gout medicine colchicine indicated for the prophylaxis of painful gout flares in adults. The company is also developing three product candidates, including SP-102 (10 mg dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel) (SEMDEXA), a novel viscous gel formulation of a used corticosteroid for epidural injections, which has completed a Phase 3 study to treat lumbosacral radicular pain or sciatica; SP-103 (lidocaine topical system) 5.4% (SP-103), a formulation of ZTlido for the treatment of chronic neck pain and low back pain (LBP) that has completed a Phase 2 trial; and SP-104 (4.5 mg low-dose naltrexone hydrochloride delayed-release capsules) (SP-104), a novel low-dose delayed-release naltrexone hydrochloride, which has completed Phase 1 trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

About Amphastar Pharmaceuticals

Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells generic and proprietary injectable, inhalation, and intranasal products in the United States, China, and France. It offers BAQSIMI, a nasal spray for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; Primatene Mist, an over-the-counter epinephrine inhalation product for the temporary relief of mild symptoms of intermittent asthma; Enoxaparin, to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis; REXTOVY and Naloxone for opioid overdose; Glucagon for injection emergency kit; and Cortrosyn, for use as a diagnostic agent in the screening of patients with adrenocortical insufficiency. The company provides Amphadase, an injection to absorb and disperse other injected drugs; Epinephrine injection for allergic reactions; Lidocaine jelly, an anesthetic product for urological procedures; Lidocaine topical solution for various procedures; Phytonadione injection, a vitamin K1 injection for newborn babies; emergency syringe products; morphine injection for use with patient-controlled analgesia pumps; and Lorazepam injection for surgery and medical procedures. In addition, it offers Neostigmine methylsulfate injection to treat myasthenia gravis and to reverse the effects of muscle relaxants; Isoproterenol hydrochloride injection for mild or transient episodes of heart block; Ganirelix Acetate injection for the inhibition of premature luteinizing hormone surges; Vasopressin to increase blood pressure; and Regadenoson, a stress agent for radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging. Further, the company distributes recombinant human insulin APIs and porcine insulin API. Additionally, it develops generic product candidates, such as injectable, inhalation, and analytical technologies; biosimial product candidates; and intranasal epinephrine for the treatment of allergic reactions. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, California.