Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT – Get Free Report) and Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Editas Medicine and Aligos Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Editas Medicine | $61.76 million | 2.74 | -$153.22 million | ($2.56) | -0.80 |
| Aligos Therapeutics | $6.00 million | 8.62 | -$87.68 million | ($13.32) | -1.08 |
Aligos Therapeutics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Editas Medicine. Aligos Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Editas Medicine, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Editas Medicine | -340.96% | -80.13% | -50.99% |
| Aligos Therapeutics | -1,283.19% | -114.34% | -64.58% |
Institutional and Insider Ownership
71.9% of Editas Medicine shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.9% of Editas Medicine shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Editas Medicine and Aligos Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Editas Medicine | 2 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2.07 |
| Aligos Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Editas Medicine presently has a consensus target price of $6.83, indicating a potential upside of 233.33%. Aligos Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 420.83%. Given Aligos Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aligos Therapeutics is more favorable than Editas Medicine.
Volatility and Risk
Editas Medicine has a beta of 1.94, indicating that its stock price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aligos Therapeutics has a beta of 2.52, indicating that its stock price is 152% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Editas Medicine beats Aligos Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Editas Medicine
Editas Medicine, Inc., a clinical stage genome editing company, focuses on developing transformative genomic medicines to treat a range of serious diseases. It develops a proprietary gene editing platform based on CRISPR technology. The company develops EDIT-101, which is in Phase 1/2 BRILLIANCE trial for Leber Congenital Amaurosis; and reni-cel, a clinical development gene-edited medicine to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. In addition, the company is developing alpha-beta T cells for solid and liquid tumors; and gamma delta T cell therapies to treat cancer. It has a research collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, Inc. to develop engineered T cells for cancer; strategic alliance and option agreement with Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Limited. The company was formerly known as Gengine, Inc. and changed its name to Editas Medicine, Inc. in November 2013. Editas Medicine, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About Aligos Therapeutics
Aligos Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs in viral and liver diseases. Its drug candidate, ALG-055009, a small molecule THR-ß agonist that is in the Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The company also develops ALG-000184, a capsid assembly modulator, which is completed Phase 1b clinical trial to treat chronic hepatitis B (CHB); and ALG-125755, a siRNA drug candidate, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of CHB. In addition, it develops ALG-097558, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of coronavirus. The company has entered into license and research collaboration agreement with Merck to discover, research, optimize, and develop oligonucleotides directed against a NASH; license agreement with Emory University to provide hepatitis B virus capsid assembly modulator technology; license agreement with Luxna Biotech Co., Ltd. to develop and commercialize products containing oligonucleotides targeting hepatitis B virus genome; and research, licensing, and commercialization agreement with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to develop coronavirus protease inhibitors. Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.
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