Financial Contrast: Evoke Pharma (NASDAQ:EVOK) vs. Xenetic Biosciences (NASDAQ:XBIO)
by Michael Walen · The Markets DailyEvoke Pharma (NASDAQ:EVOK – Get Free Report) and Xenetic Biosciences (NASDAQ:XBIO – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.
Risk and Volatility
Evoke Pharma has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xenetic Biosciences has a beta of 2.24, indicating that its stock price is 124% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Evoke Pharma and Xenetic Biosciences, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Evoke Pharma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Xenetic Biosciences | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.00 |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Evoke Pharma and Xenetic Biosciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Evoke Pharma | $7.53 million | 5.15 | -$7.79 million | ($1.83) | -2.46 |
| Xenetic Biosciences | $2.52 million | 2.43 | -$4.14 million | ($2.93) | -1.35 |
Xenetic Biosciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Evoke Pharma. Evoke Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Xenetic Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Evoke Pharma and Xenetic Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Evoke Pharma | -86.74% | -964.25% | -66.09% |
| Xenetic Biosciences | -186.39% | -51.05% | -45.83% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
15.1% of Xenetic Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.1% of Evoke Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of Xenetic Biosciences shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Xenetic Biosciences beats Evoke Pharma on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Evoke Pharma
Evoke Pharma, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, primarily focuses on the development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of gastroenterological disorders and diseases. It offers Gimoti, a metoclopramide nasal spray to treat symptoms associated with acute and recurrent diabetic gastroparesis in adults. The company markets its products to gastroenterologists, internal medicine specialists, primary care physicians, and select health care providers. Evoke Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Solana Beach, California.
About Xenetic Biosciences
Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on progressing XCART, a personalized CAR T platform technology engineered to target patient-specific tumor neoantigens. The Company is initially advancing cell-based therapeutics targeting the unique B-cell receptor on the surface of an individual patient’s malignant tumor cells for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas. XCART has the potential to fuel a robust pipeline of therapeutic assets targeting high-value oncology indications.