Pfenex Inc. (NYSEAMERICAN:PFNX) and TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:TCON) are two firms in the Biotechnology that compete against each other. Below is a comparison of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pfenex Inc.	29.41M	4.18	27.28M	-0.99	0.00
TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.	3.00M	9.96	33.76M	-1.47	0.00

In table 1 we can see Pfenex Inc. and TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Profitability

Table 2 provides Pfenex Inc. and TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s return on assets, return on equity and net margins.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pfenex Inc.	-92.76%	-43.7%	-32.3%
TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.	-1,125.33%	-108%	-66.4%

Risk & Volatility

A 2.88 beta indicates that Pfenex Inc. is 188.00% more volatile compared to Standard and Poor’s 500. TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s 114.00% more volatile than Standard and Poor’s 500 which is a result of the 2.14 beta.

Liquidity

Pfenex Inc.’s Current Ratio is 3.7 while its Quick Ratio is 3.7. On the competitive side is, TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. which has a 3.6 Current Ratio and a 3.6 Quick Ratio. Pfenex Inc. is better positioned to pay off short and long-term obligations compared to TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Roughly 84.4% of Pfenex Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors while 64.3% of TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. are owned by institutional investors. Insiders owned 0.1% of Pfenex Inc. shares. Competitively, insiders own roughly 8.76% of TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s shares.

Performance

In this table we show the Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Half Yearly, Yearly and YTD Performance of both pretenders.

	Performance (W)	Performance (M)	Performance (Q)	Performance (HY)	Performance (Y)	Performance (YTD)
Pfenex Inc.	-7.49%	-15.08%	-26.49%	-32.81%	70.22%	43.98%
TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc.	-19.12%	-27.15%	-50%	-57.69%	-63.33%	-67.16%

For the past year Pfenex Inc. has 43.98% stronger performance while TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. has -67.16% weaker performance.

Summary

Pfenex Inc. beats TRACON Pharmaceuticals Inc. on 9 of the 10 factors.

Pfenex Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops biosimilar therapeutics in the United States. Its lead product candidates include PF708, a therapeutic equivalent candidate to Forteo (teriparatide) for the treatment of osteoporosis; PF582, a biosimilar to Lucentis (ranibizumab) for the treatment of patients with retinal diseases; and Px563L, a novel anthrax vaccine candidate in Phase 1a trial. The company also engages in developing a pipeline of additional biosimilar candidates, including PF529, a biosimilar candidate to Neulasta; PF688, a biosimilar candidate to Cimzia; PF530, a biosimilar candidate to Betaseron; PF690, a biosimilar candidate to the reference product Oncaspar; PF444-human growth hormone, a biosimilar candidate to Genotropin; and PF688-certolizumab-pegol, a biosimilar candidate to Cimzia. It has collaboration agreements with Hospira, Inc. and Jazz Pharmaceuticals Ireland Limited. Pfenex Inc. is headquartered in San Diego, California.

TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for cancer, wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and fibrotic diseases. Its lead product candidate is TRC105, an endoglin antibody, which is in Phase III clinical trials for angiosarcoma; randomized Phase II clinical trials for renal cell carcinoma; Phase II clinical trials for soft tissue sarcoma; Phase II clinical trials for gestational trophoblastic neoplasia; Phase I/II clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinoma; Phase I clinical trial for lung cancer; Phase I/II clinical trials for breast cancer; and Phase I/II clinical trials for wet AMD. The companyÂ’s other product candidates comprise TRC102, a small molecule that is in Phase II clinical trials for mesothelioma, Phase II clinical trials for glioblastoma, Phase I clinical trial for solid tumors and lymphomas, as well as Phase I clinical trial for lung cancer; and TRC253, a small molecule high affinity competitive inhibitor of wild type androgen receptor (AR) and multiple AR mutant receptors that is in Phase I/II clinical trials for the treatment prostate cancer. Its preclinical development products include TRC205, an endoglin antibody for the treatment of fibrotic diseases; and TRC694, an orally bioavailable inhibitor of NF-kB inducing kinase for the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies, including myeloma. The company has a strategic licensing collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. to develop TRC253 and TRC694; and a license agreement with Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd to develop, manufacture, and commercialize DE-122, the ophthalmic formulation of TRC105, for ophthalmology indications. The company was formerly known as Lexington Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in March 2005. TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.