Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:IMMY) and Ardelyx Inc. (NASDAQ:ARDX) compete with each other in the Biotechnology sector. We will analyze and compare their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation, institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.	N/A	0.00	N/A	-0.31	0.00
Ardelyx Inc.	44.52M	3.66	53.32M	-0.96	0.00

Table 1 shows gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation of the two companies.

Profitability

Table 2 hightlights the net margins, return on equity and return on assets of the two companies.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.	0.00%	-230.7%	-25.2%
Ardelyx Inc.	-119.77%	-37.2%	-29%

Risk and Volatility

A -0.87 beta means Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s volatility is 187.00% less than S&P 500’s volatility. From a competition point of view, Ardelyx Inc. has a 1.38 beta which is 38.00% more volatile compared to S&P 500.

Liquidity

The current Quick Ratio of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. is 0.9 while its Current Ratio is 1.1. Meanwhile, Ardelyx Inc. has a Current Ratio of 12.8 while its Quick Ratio is 12.8. Ardelyx Inc. is better positioned to pay off its short-term and long-term debts than Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

The shares of both Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Ardelyx Inc. are owned by institutional investors at 23.3% and 85.2% respectively. Insiders owned roughly 3.9% of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s shares. Insiders Comparatively, owned 1.4% of Ardelyx Inc. shares.

Performance

Here are 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)
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc.	14.8%	23.69%	79.8%	118.95%	213.87%	219.41%
Ardelyx Inc.	-10.29%	-28.86%	-35.79%	-39.75%	-58.99%	-63.03%

For the past year Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. had bullish trend while Ardelyx Inc. had bearish trend.

Summary

Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. beats Ardelyx Inc. on 5 of the 9 factors.

Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. engages in the development, production, and sale of medications to physicians and patients in the United States. Its ophthalmology program consists of Dropless Therapy injectable and LessDrops topical formulations. The company also offers a conscious sedation medication, the IV Free MKO Melt, an alternative to intravenous sedation. It focuses on providing ophthalmology programs and medications for glaucoma, wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and chronic dry eye disease. The companyÂ’s medicine business includes medications used in several therapeutic areas, including oncology, autoimmunity, chronic infectious diseases, and endocrine and metabolic diseases; and urology business comprises a series of injectable erectile dysfunction formulations for patients that are refractory to or are otherwise unable to take phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, such as sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil. In addition, it develops PPS-DR (pentosan polysulfate sodium delayed-release) formulations as alternatives to Elmiron for patients diagnosed with interstitial cystitis; and develops and sells therapeutic alternatives to Daraprim, Thiola, and Calcium Disodium Versenate. The company was formerly known as Transdel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in February 2012. Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Ardelyx, Inc. develops and sells therapeutics for the treatment of cardio renal and gastrointestinal diseases in the United States. Its lead product candidate is tenapanor, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of patients with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, as well as in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in end-stage renal disease patients on dialysis. The company is also developing RDX7675, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of people with hyperkalemia; and RDX8940 in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with NASH and other gastrointestinal indications. Its drug candidates in the stages of research and development include RDX013 for the treatment of patients with hyperkalemia; RDX011 for the discovery and development of second-generation NHE3 inhibitors; and RDX023 for the discovery and development of gut-biased FXR agonists for the treatment of GI and inflammatory diseases. The company was formerly known as Nteryx, Inc. and changed its name to Ardelyx, Inc. in June 2008. Ardelyx, Inc. was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.