Critical Review: Verrica Pharmaceuticals (VRCA) vs. Its Competitors

Verrica Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRCA) is one of 896 public companies in the “Pharmaceuticals” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Verrica Pharmaceuticals to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Verrica Pharmaceuticals and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	$35.58 million	-$17.89 million	-2.07
Verrica Pharmaceuticals Competitors	$3.56 billion	$3.19 billion	548.12

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

42.5% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.5% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are held by institutional investors. 52.9% of Verrica Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.1% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Verrica Pharmaceuticals and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	1	1	3	0	2.40
Verrica Pharmaceuticals Competitors	7774	13861	25736	1032	2.41

Verrica Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $12.67, indicating a potential upside of 267.15%. As a group, “Pharmaceuticals” companies have a potential upside of 23.98%. Given Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Verrica Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than its rivals.

Risk & Volatility

Verrica Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Verrica Pharmaceuticals’ rivals have a beta of -3.76, indicating that their average share price is 476% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Verrica Pharmaceuticals and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verrica Pharmaceuticals	-102.84%	-407.11%	-70.17%
Verrica Pharmaceuticals Competitors	-2,381.20%	-218.66%	-15.76%

Summary

Verrica Pharmaceuticals rivals beat Verrica Pharmaceuticals on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Verrica Pharmaceuticals

Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage dermatology therapeutics company, develops medications for the treatment of skin diseases in the United States. Its product pipeline comprises YCANTH (VP-102), which is in phase III clinical trial for the treatment of common warts; and has completed phase II clinical trial for the treatment of external genital warts. The company also develops VP-315, an oncolytic peptide-based injectable therapy, which is in phase II clinical trial for the treatment of dermatology oncologic conditions which includes basal cell carcinoma; and VP-103, a cantharidin-based product candidate for the treatment of plantar warts and is in phase II clinical trial. In addition, it offers YCANTH for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum. The company has a collaboration and license agreement with Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for the development and commercialization of its product candidates for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum and common warts in Japan, including VP-102; and a license agreement with Lytix Biopharma AS to develop and commercialize VP-315 for dermatological oncology indications, such as non-metastatic melanoma and non-metastatic merkel cell carcinoma. Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania.