Comparing Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) and Valeritas (OTCMKTS:VLRXQ)

Valeritas (OTCMKTS:VLRXQ – Get Rating) and Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH – Get Rating) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Valeritas and Nephros’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valeritas	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nephros	-71.25%	-42.99%	-36.30%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Valeritas and Nephros, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valeritas	0	0	0	0	N/A
Nephros	0	1	1	0	2.50

Nephros has a consensus price target of $5.25, suggesting a potential upside of 288.86%. Given Nephros’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Nephros is more favorable than Valeritas.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Valeritas and Nephros’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valeritas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nephros	$10.40 million	1.34	-$4.11 million	($0.74)	-1.82

Valeritas has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Nephros.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

42.1% of Nephros shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Valeritas shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Nephros shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Nephros beats Valeritas on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Valeritas

(Get Rating)

Valeritas Holdings, Inc., a commercial-stage medical technology company, focuses on the development and commercialization of technologies to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes in the United States. The company offers V-Go, a wearable insulin delivery device for basal-bolus therapy. It also develops V-Go Prefill that is in the design-development stage for eliminating the device-filling process and the need for EZ fill refrigeration for patients with Type 2 diabetes; and V-Go SIM for real-time tracking information of basal and bolus dosing utilization. The company sells V-Go to third-party wholesalers and medical supply distributors. Valeritas Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

About Nephros

(Get Rating)

Nephros, Inc. is a medical device company, which engages in developing and selling liquid purification filters and an on-line mid dilution hemodiafiltration system. The company operates in two segments: Water Filtration, Pathogen Detection and Renal Products. The Water Filtration segment includes both the medical device and commercial filtration product lines. The Pathogen Detection segment develops and sells portable, real-time water testing systems designed to provide actionable data on waterborne pathogens in approximately one hour. The Renal Products segment consists of SRP, which is focused on the development of medical device products for patients with renal disease, including a second-generation HDF system for the treatment of patients with ESRD. Its ultrafilters are used in dialysis centers for the removal of biological contaminants from water, bicarbonate concentrate, and blood. The company was founded on April 3, 1997 and is headquartered in South Orange, NJ.