Scilex (NASDAQ:SCLX – Get Free Report) and Prime Medicine (NYSE:PRME – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
69.7% of Scilex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.4% of Prime Medicine shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Scilex shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of Prime Medicine shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Scilex and Prime Medicine’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Scilex | -233.88% | N/A | -111.82% |
| Prime Medicine | N/A | -106.30% | -81.24% |
Analyst Recommendations
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Scilex | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Prime Medicine | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 2.90 |
Scilex presently has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 750.52%. Prime Medicine has a consensus target price of $14.11, indicating a potential upside of 307.84%. Given Scilex’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Scilex is more favorable than Prime Medicine.
Risk & Volatility
Scilex has a beta of 1.17, indicating that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prime Medicine has a beta of 2.18, indicating that its stock price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Scilex and Prime Medicine”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Scilex | $46.74 million | 3.86 | -$114.33 million | ($1.31) | -0.72 |
| Prime Medicine | $591,000.00 | 702.72 | -$198.13 million | ($2.17) | -1.59 |
Scilex has higher revenue and earnings than Prime Medicine. Prime Medicine is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Scilex, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
About Scilex
Scilex Holding Company focuses on acquiring, developing, and commercializing non-opioid pain management products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Its commercial products include ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% (ZTlido), a prescription lidocaine topical product for the relief of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a form of post-shingles nerve pain; ELYXYB, a ready-to-use oral solution for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults; and GLOPERBA, a liquid oral version of the anti-gout medicine colchicine indicated for the prophylaxis of painful gout flares in adults. The company is also developing three product candidates, including SP-102 (10 mg dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel) (SEMDEXA), a novel viscous gel formulation of a used corticosteroid for epidural injections, which has completed a Phase 3 study to treat lumbosacral radicular pain or sciatica; SP-103 (lidocaine topical system) 5.4% (SP-103), a formulation of ZTlido for the treatment of chronic neck pain and low back pain (LBP) that has completed a Phase 2 trial; and SP-104 (4.5 mg low-dose naltrexone hydrochloride delayed-release capsules) (SP-104), a novel low-dose delayed-release naltrexone hydrochloride, which has completed Phase 1 trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
About Prime Medicine
Prime Medicine, Inc., a biotechnology company, delivers genetic therapies to address the spectrum of diseases by deploying gene editing technology. The company offers Prime Editors with a Prime Editor protein, comprising a fusion between a Cas protein and a reverse transcriptase enzyme; and a pegRNA, which targets the Prime Editor to a specific genomic location and provides a template for making the desired edit to the target DNA sequence. It has a research collaboration with Cimeio Therapeutics to develop Prime Edited Shielded-Cell & Immunotherapy Pairs for genetic diseases, acute myeloid leukemia, and myelodysplastic syndrome. The company was incorporated in 2019 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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