Palatin Technologies (PINK:PTNT) & Clever Leaves (NASDAQ:CLVR) Critical Analysis

Clever Leaves (NASDAQ:CLVR) and Palatin Technologies (PINK:PTNT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Clever Leaves has a beta of 4061.44, suggesting that its stock price is 406,044% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palatin Technologies has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Clever Leaves and Palatin Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Clever Leaves	$17.42 million	0.00	-$17.90 million	($12.36)	0.00
Palatin Technologies	$4.49 million	32.44	-$29.74 million	($1.55)	-3.61

Clever Leaves has higher revenue and earnings than Palatin Technologies. Palatin Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Clever Leaves, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Clever Leaves and Palatin Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Clever Leaves	N/A	N/A	N/A
Palatin Technologies	N/A	N/A	-365.57%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

6.9% of Clever Leaves shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Palatin Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 8.2% of Clever Leaves shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Palatin Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Clever Leaves and Palatin Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Clever Leaves	0	0	0	0	0.00
Palatin Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00

Palatin Technologies has a consensus target price of $350.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6,150.00%. Given Palatin Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Palatin Technologies is more favorable than Clever Leaves.

About Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves Holdings Inc. operates in the botanical cannabinoid and nutraceutical industries. The company operates through two segments, Cannabinoid and Non-Cannabinoid. The Cannabinoid segment cultivates, extracts, manufactures, commercializes, and distributes cannabinoid products comprising cannabis flowers, cannabidiol isolates, full spectrum and standardized extracts, and dry smokable flowers internationally. The Non-Cannabinoid segment formulates, manufactures, markets, sells, distributes, and commercializes nutraceutical and other natural remedies, wellness products, detoxification products, and nutritional and dietary supplements for mass retailers, specialty and health retailers, and distributors in the United States. It also produces extracted products, including isolates, crude oil extracts, and oral solutions; and tetrahydrocannabinol flowers. The company serves retail distributors, pharmaceutical and cannabis companies, and pharmacies. Clever Leaves Holdings Inc. was founded in 2017 and is based in Tocancipá, Colombia.

About Palatin Technologies

Palatin Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted receptor-specific therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Vyleesi, a melanocortin receptor (MCr) agonist for the treatment of premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. It is also developing oral PL8177, a selective MC1r agonist peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, the company engages in the development of PL9643, a peptide melanocortin agonist active at multiple MCrs, including MC1r and MC5r for anti-inflammatory ocular indications, such as dry eye disease, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; and melanocortin peptides for diabetic retinopathy. Further, it is developing PL8177, an oral peptide formulation for treatment of ulcerative colitis, which entered Phase 2 clinical trials. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Cranbury, New Jersey.