Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (LXRX) Competitors

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN) and Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LXRX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in GERN or LXRX?

Geron received 16 more outperform votes than Lexicon Pharmaceuticals when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.93% of users gave Geron an outperform vote while only 64.02% of users gave Lexicon Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Geron	Outperform Votes 500 69.93%	Underperform Votes 215 30.07%
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 484 64.02%	Underperform Votes 272 35.98%

Do analysts prefer GERN or LXRX?

Geron presently has a consensus target price of $5.06, suggesting a potential upside of 228.73%. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $3.67, suggesting a potential upside of 422.24%. Given Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Geron.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Geron	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.78
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is GERN or LXRX more profitable?

Geron has a net margin of -682.48% compared to Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -4,109.41%. Geron's return on equity of -67.53% beat Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Geron	-682.48%	-67.53%	-45.46%
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals	-4,109.41%	-107.38%	-64.09%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in GERN or LXRX?

73.7% of Geron shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.7% of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Geron shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.8% of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, GERN or LXRX?

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Geron. Geron is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Geron	$116.29M	8.43	-$184.13M	-$0.21	-7.33
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals	$31.21M	8.13	-$177.12M	-$0.51	-1.38

Which has more risk & volatility, GERN or LXRX?

Geron has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer GERN or LXRX?

In the previous week, Geron had 1 more articles in the media than Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Geron and 2 mentions for Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat Geron's score of 0.48 indicating that Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Geron	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Summary

Geron beats Lexicon Pharmaceuticals on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.