Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) & Ainos (NASDAQ:AIMD) Critical Contrast

Ainos (NASDAQ:AIMD) and Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Ainos and Esperion Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ainos	-15,348.14%	-64.54%	-47.06%
Esperion Therapeutics	-35.46%	N/A	-15.71%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ainos and Esperion Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ainos	$65,122.00	48.13	-$13.77 million	N/A	N/A
Esperion Therapeutics	$277.79 million	1.13	-$209.25 million	($0.99)	-1.67

Ainos has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Esperion Therapeutics.

Volatility and Risk

Ainos has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Esperion Therapeutics has a beta of 1, meaning that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Ainos and Esperion Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ainos	0	0	0	0	N/A
Esperion Therapeutics	1	1	2	0	2.25

Esperion Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $8.17, indicating a potential upside of 394.95%. Given Esperion Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Esperion Therapeutics is more favorable than Ainos.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.4% of Esperion Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Ainos shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Esperion Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Esperion Therapeutics beats Ainos on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ainos

Ainos, Inc., a healthcare company, engages in developing medical technologies for point-of-care testing and safe and novel medical treatment for disease indications. The company offers COVID-19 antigen rapid test kit and Ainos' cloud-based test management App, a cloud-based test management platform comprising an antigen rapid test kit, a personal application, and an enterprise app; COVID-19 nucleic acid test; volatile organic compounds point-of-care testing; Very Low-Dose Oral Interferon Alpha, a low-dose oral interferon alpha formulation based IFN-a's broad treatment applications; and Synthetic RNA developing a SRNA technology platform in Taiwan. It also provides women's health, pneumonia, Ainos Pen, AI Nose, and other products. Ainos, Inc. was formerly known as Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Ainos, Inc. in May 2021. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in San Diego, California.

About Esperion Therapeutics

Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a pharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes medicines for the treatment of patients with elevated low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Its marketed products include NEXLETOL (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET (bempedoic acid and ezetimibe) tablets that are oral, once-daily, non-statin medicines for the treatment of primary hyperlipidemia in adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease who require additional lowering of LDL-C. The company's products also include NILEMDO, an ATP Citrate Lyase (ACL) inhibitor that lowers LDL-C and cardiovascular risk by reducing cholesterol biosynthesis and up-regulating the LDL receptors; and NUSTENDI, a bempedoic acid and ezetimibe tablet to treat elevated LDL-C. The company has license and collaboration agreements with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd to; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd; and Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH. Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.