Comparing Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TARS) & Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR)

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TARS) and Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Tarsus Pharmaceuticals and Voyager Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	0	1	5	1	3.00
Voyager Therapeutics	0	1	6	1	3.00

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $51.60, indicating a potential upside of 41.56%. Voyager Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $17.43, indicating a potential upside of 127.53%. Given Voyager Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Voyager Therapeutics is more favorable than Tarsus Pharmaceuticals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

90.0% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 8.3% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are held by 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.

Profitability

This table compares Tarsus Pharmaceuticals and Voyager Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	-180.00%	-63.99%	-47.64%
Voyager Therapeutics	6.28%	3.31%	2.33%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Tarsus Pharmaceuticals and Voyager Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	$17.45 million	79.46	-$135.89 million	($4.48)	-8.14
Voyager Therapeutics	$143.77 million	2.90	$132.33 million	($0.05)	-153.20

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

Volatility & Risk

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.07, indicating that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Voyager Therapeutics has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Voyager Therapeutics beats Tarsus Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tarsus Pharmaceuticals

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic candidates for eye care in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is XDEMVY, a novel therapeutic for the treatment of blepharitis caused by the infestation of Demodex mites, as well as to treat meibomian gland disease. It is developing TP-04 for the treatment of rosacea; and TP-05 for Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction. In addition, the company develops lotilaner to address diseases across therapeutic categories in human medicine, including eye care, dermatology, and other infectious disease prevention. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.

About Voyager Therapeutics

Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the treatment of gene therapy and neurology diseases. The company's lead clinical candidate is VY-TAU01, an anti-tau antibody program for the treatment of alzheimer's disease. Its product pipeline includes superoxide dismutase 1 silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; tau silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of alzheimer's disease; and vectorized anti-amyloid antibody, a gene therapy targeting anti-amyloid for the treatment of alzheimer's disease and is in preclinical trial. In addition, the company develops VY-FXN01, which is in preclinical trial to treat friedreich's ataxia; and GBA1 gene replacement to treat parkinson's disease and is in preclinical trial. Further, it provides research program for the treatment of Huntington's disease. The company has collaboration and license agreements with Alexion; AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Novartis Pharma AG; Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc; and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.