Reviewing Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) and Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU)

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) and Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kodiak Sciences and Caribou Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kodiak Sciences	3	3	1	0	1.71
Caribou Biosciences	0	1	2	0	2.67

Kodiak Sciences currently has a consensus target price of $5.50, indicating a potential upside of 110.73%. Caribou Biosciences has a consensus target price of $15.25, indicating a potential upside of 829.88%. Given Caribou Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Caribou Biosciences is more favorable than Kodiak Sciences.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.1% of Kodiak Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.5% of Caribou Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.3% of Kodiak Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of Caribou Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kodiak Sciences and Caribou Biosciences’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kodiak Sciences	N/A	N/A	-$260.49 million	($4.43)	-0.59
Caribou Biosciences	$34.48 million	4.30	-$102.07 million	($1.45)	-1.13

Caribou Biosciences has higher revenue and earnings than Kodiak Sciences. Caribou Biosciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kodiak Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Kodiak Sciences has a beta of 2.43, meaning that its share price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Caribou Biosciences has a beta of 2.43, meaning that its share price is 143% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kodiak Sciences and Caribou Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kodiak Sciences	N/A	-81.11%	-45.38%
Caribou Biosciences	-345.05%	-33.42%	-28.01%

Summary

Caribou Biosciences beats Kodiak Sciences on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kodiak Sciences

Kodiak Sciences Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat retinal diseases. Its lead product candidate is tarcocimab tedromer (KSI-301), an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody biopolymer that is in Phase IIb/III clinical study to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as well as Phase III clinical study for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, naïve macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, and non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The company's preclinical stage product candidate includes KSI-501, a bispecific conjugate to treat retinal diseases with an inflammatory component; and KSI-601, a triplet biopolymer conjugate for the treatment of dry AMD. The company was formerly known as Oligasis, LLC and changed its name to Kodiak Sciences Inc. in September 2015. Kodiak Sciences Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Palo Alto, California.

About Caribou Biosciences

Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of genome-edited allogeneic cell therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies in the United States and internationally. Its lead product candidate is CB-010, an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company also develops CB-011, an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and CB-012, an allogeneic anti-CD371 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Caribou Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.