Financial Review: USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) and Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT)

Assertio (NASDAQ:ASRT) and USANA Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Assertio and USANA Health Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Assertio	1	4	0	0	1.80
USANA Health Sciences	1	1	0	0	1.50

Assertio presently has a consensus target price of $22.65, suggesting a potential downside of 3.62%. Given Assertio’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Assertio is more favorable than USANA Health Sciences.

Profitability

This table compares Assertio and USANA Health Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Assertio	-34.94%	-38.72%	-13.32%
USANA Health Sciences	0.96%	6.21%	4.50%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

49.0% of Assertio shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.2% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Assertio shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of USANA Health Sciences shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Assertio and USANA Health Sciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Assertio	$118.71 million	1.28	-$30.38 million	($5.69)	-4.13
USANA Health Sciences	$925.26 million	0.43	$10.76 million	$0.47	45.55

USANA Health Sciences has higher revenue and earnings than Assertio. Assertio is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than USANA Health Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Assertio has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, USANA Health Sciences has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

USANA Health Sciences beats Assertio on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Assertio

Assertio Holdings, Inc., a commercial pharmaceutical company, provides various products to patients in the United States. Its pharmaceutical products include INDOCIN, an oral and suppository solution for the treatment of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, including acute flares of chronic disease; ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis; and acute painful shoulder and gouty arthritis. It also provides Sympazan, a benzodiazepine for the adjunctive treatment of seizures related with lennox-gastaut syndrome in patients aged two years of age or older; CAMBIA, a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug (NSAID) for the treatment of migraine pain, nausea, photophobia, and phonophobia; Zipsor, a NSAID for relief of mild to moderate pain in adults; SPRIX, a NSAID for the short term management of moderate to moderately severe pain that requires analgesia at the opioid level; Otrexup, a single-dose auto-injector containing a prescription medicine and methotrexate that is used to treat patients with severe, active rheumatoid arthritis, and active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis, as well as treat adult with severe, recalcitrant, and disabling psoriasis; and ROLVEDON, a long-acting granulocyte colony-stimulating factor that is indicated to decrease the incidence of infection caused by febrile neutropenia. The company was formerly known as Assertio Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Assertio Holdings, Inc. in May 2020. Assertio Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois.

About USANA Health Sciences

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells science-based nutritional, personal care, and skincare products in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe. The company offers USANA nutritional products that comprise essentials/CellSentials, such as vitamin and mineral supplements that provide a foundation of total body nutrition for various age groups; optimizers consisting of targeted supplements that are designed to meet cardiovascular, skeletal/structural, and digestive health needs; and food that include meal replacement shakes, snack bars, and other related products. It also provides Celavive, a skin care regimen for various skin care types and ethnicities; and other products for prenatal, infant, and young child age groups. In addition, the company offers materials and online tools to assist associates in building their businesses, as well as in marketing products. It offers its products through retail stores and online. The company has a research collaboration agreement with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine; and National Sports Training Bureau. USANA Health Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.