Corcept Therapeutics (CORT - Get Rating) is engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drugs to treat severe metabolic, psychiatric, and oncologic disorders by modulating the effects of cortisol. Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone. It works with parts of your brain to control your fear, mood, and motivation.

If people don’t have enough cortisol or too much, the body will be negatively impacted. Too little cortisol can lead to conditions such as shock, while too much cortisol can lead to a weakened immune response. CORT believes that the regulation of cortisol can be crucial to treating several diseases.

It’s only marketed drug, Korlym, is approved for the treatment of hyperglycemia secondary to hypercortisolism in adult patients with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome. Korlym was actually the first drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Plus, unlike other drugs, Korlym only modulates cortisol. It does not stop its production, as that could cause harm to patients.

Korlym even enjoys orphan drug status in the U.S. and Europe for Cushing’s syndrome. According to Investopedia, “This gives companies exclusive marketing and development rights along with other benefits to recoup the costs of researching and developing drugs to treat rare diseases.”

Management has even increased the size of its sales force and is targeting Cushing’s disease patients that are not yet on the medication. So far, Korlym has provided consistent revenue for the company.

Last year, pandemic-related restrictions impaired the firm’s ability to grow because restrictions made it hard for physicians to diagnose and treat patients with Cushing syndrome, which needs to be done in person. However, commercial activity has increased substantially since then. Plus, top endocrinologists believe there are more patients with hypercortisolism than previously known.

This reason alone should provide continued revenue growth for the company. Management is certainly excited about its prospects, especially since the company can use revenue from Korlym to enlarge its portfolio of proprietary selected cortisol modulators.

In fact, CORT also has other drugs in development, including relacorilant, which is also being studied for Cushing’s syndrome, exicorilant for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, and miricorilant for antipsychotic-induced weight gain and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

They are also researching treatment for adrenal, ovarian, prostate cancer, and ALS. The successful development of these candidates will drive even more revenue growth for the company and provide long-term growth. The company has an overall grade of A, translating into a Strong Buy rating in our POWR Ratings system.

CORT has a Growth Grade of B, which makes sense as revenues have grown an average of 36.4% per year over the past five years. Earnings have grown an average of 80.1% a year over the same time frame. The company also has a Value Grade of A, which isn’t surprising as both its price-to-sales and price-to-book ratios are well below the industry average.

The stock is even considered 44% undervalued based on an aggregate of analyst price targets. We also provide Momentum, Stability, Sentiment, and Quality grades for CORT, which you can find here. CORT is ranked #3 in the Biotech industry. For more top stocks in this industry, click here. But, let’s see how CORT compares to its peers.

One of the largest biotech companies in the world is Moderna (MRNA), which has become extremely well-known since it developed a successful vaccine for COVID-19. However, unlike CORT, MRNA has an overall grade of C and a Neutral rating in our POWR Ratings system.

BeiGene, Ltd. (BGNE), another of CORT’s competitors, has an even worse rating than MRNA. It has an overall grade of D and a Sell rating in our POWR Ratings system. Plus, its Value Grade of C is well below CORT’s Value Grade of A. This makes CORT the better buy. Plus, the stock is down over 5% today, making it the perfect time to buy on the dip.

CORT is just one of the stocks in my POWR Value portfolio. That’s where I combine my many years of investing experience with the Top 10 Value Stocks strategy, which has +38.63% annual returns, to bring investors the best value stocks for today’s market. 

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CORT shares were unchanged in after-hours trading Friday. Year-to-date, CORT has declined -23.39%, versus a 20.42% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

About the Author: David Cohne

David Cohne has 20 years of experience as an investment analyst and writer. Prior to StockNews, David spent eleven years as a consultant providing outsourced investment research and content to financial services companies, hedge funds, and online publications. David enjoys researching and writing about stocks and the markets. He takes a fundamental quantitative approach in evaluating stocks for readers. More...

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