Comparing Ainos (NASDAQ:AIMD) & Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ESPR)

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Risk and Volatility

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

Profitability

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

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Esperion Therapeutics and Ainos”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Esperion Therapeutics	$277.79 million	1.19	-$209.25 million	($0.99)	-1.77
Ainos	$65,122.00	49.23	-$13.77 million	N/A	N/A

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Esperion Therapeutics and Ainos, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Esperion Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $8.17, indicating a potential upside of 366.67%. Given Esperion Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Esperion Therapeutics is more favorable than Ainos.

Summary

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

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.

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.