Veru (VERU) versus Its Peers Critical Comparison

Veru (NASDAQ:VERU) is one of 897 public companies in the “Pharmaceuticals” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Veru to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Veru and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Veru	1	0	3	0	2.50
Veru Competitors	7765	13850	25705	1031	2.41

Veru currently has a consensus target price of $24.50, indicating a potential upside of 1,034.26%. As a group, “Pharmaceuticals” companies have a potential upside of 24.49%. Given Veru’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Veru is more favorable than its peers.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Veru and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Veru	$16.89 million	-$22.73 million	-3.13
Veru Competitors	$5.25 billion	$3.17 billion	547.95

Veru’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Veru. Veru is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Veru and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Veru	N/A	-47.58%	-35.83%
Veru Competitors	-2,372.26%	-220.09%	-16.01%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.2% of Veru shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.7% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 14.2% of Veru shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.3% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are owned by company 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

Veru has a beta of -1.21, meaning that its share price is 221% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Veru’s peers have a beta of -4.34, meaning that their average share price is 534% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Veru beats its peers on 7 of the 12 factors compared.

Veru Company Profile

Veru Inc., a late clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing medicines for treatment of metabolic diseases, oncology, and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Its marketed products comprise FC2 female condom for the dual protection against unplanned pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. The company’s development program includes enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor modulator for treatment of augment fat loss and to prevent muscle loss in sarcopenic obese and overweight elderly patients; Enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor modulator for the treatment of AR+ ER+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer; and sabizabulin, a microtubule disruptor for the treatment of hospitalized patients with viral lung infection on oxygen support who are at high risk for viral induced ARDS and death. The company was formerly known as The Female Health Company and changed its name to Veru Inc. in July 2017. Veru Inc. was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.