Shuttle Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SHPH) vs. Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) Critical Contrast

Shuttle Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SHPH) and Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Shuttle Pharmaceuticals and Talphera, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shuttle Pharmaceuticals	1	0	0	0	1.00
Talphera	1	0	2	2	3.00

Talphera has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 334.78%. Given Talphera’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Talphera is more favorable than Shuttle Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Shuttle Pharmaceuticals and Talphera’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shuttle Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-772.76%	-347.06%
Talphera	N/A	-152.38%	-64.32%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

4.6% of Shuttle Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 37.7% of Talphera shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.6% of Shuttle Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Talphera shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shuttle Pharmaceuticals and Talphera”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shuttle Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$9.15 million	($4.15)	-0.89
Talphera	$650,000.00	80.66	-$13.00 million	($0.40)	-2.88

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

Volatility and Risk

Shuttle Pharmaceuticals has a beta of -1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 201% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Talphera has a beta of 0.03, suggesting that its stock price is 97% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Talphera beats Shuttle Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shuttle Pharmaceuticals

Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc., a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, develops novel therapies to cure cancers. It develops Ropidoxuridine, an oral halogenated pyrimidine to treat patients with brain tumors and sarcomas SP-1-161, an HDAC inhibitor that initiates the mutated in ataxia-telangiectasia response pathway for radiation sensitizing cancer cells and protecting normal cells; SP-2-225, a pre-clinical class IIb that effects on the regulation of the immune system; and SP-1-303, a pre-clinical selective Class I HDAC for the treatment of ER positive cancers . The company is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About Talphera

Talphera, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for use in medically supervised settings. Its lead product candidate is Niyad, a lyophilized formulation of nafamostat, which is under an investigational device exemption as an anticoagulant for the extracorporeal circuit. It is also developing LTX-608, an anti-inflammatory and antiviral potential for the treatment of multiple conditions, including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and acute pancreatitis; Fedsyra, a pre-filled ephedrine syringe; and PFS-02, a pre-filled phenylephrine syringe. The company was formerly known as AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Talphera, Inc. in January 2024. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.