CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) & Adverum Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADVM) Critical Survey

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) and Adverum Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADVM) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CRISPR Therapeutics and Adverum Biotechnologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CRISPR Therapeutics	2	8	9	0	2.37
Adverum Biotechnologies	0	1	5	0	2.83

CRISPR Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $75.63, indicating a potential upside of 60.97%. Adverum Biotechnologies has a consensus target price of $28.17, indicating a potential upside of 301.23%. Given Adverum Biotechnologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Adverum Biotechnologies is more favorable than CRISPR Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares CRISPR Therapeutics and Adverum Biotechnologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CRISPR Therapeutics	N/A	-13.85%	-11.69%
Adverum Biotechnologies	N/A	-74.45%	-44.81%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

69.2% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.2% of Adverum Biotechnologies shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Adverum Biotechnologies shares are held 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CRISPR Therapeutics and Adverum Biotechnologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CRISPR Therapeutics	$200.00 million	19.95	-$153.61 million	($2.72)	-17.27
Adverum Biotechnologies	$3.60 million	40.48	-$117.17 million	($10.20)	-0.69

Adverum Biotechnologies has lower revenue, but higher earnings than CRISPR Therapeutics. CRISPR Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Adverum Biotechnologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

CRISPR Therapeutics has a beta of 1.68, meaning that its stock price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adverum Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

CRISPR Therapeutics beats Adverum Biotechnologies on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases. To accelerate and expand its efforts, CRISPR Therapeutics has established strategic collaborations with companies including Bayer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and ViaCyte, Inc. CRISPR Therapeutics AG is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, CRISPR Therapeutics, Inc., and R&D operations based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and business offices in San Francisco, California and London, United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.crisprtx.com.

About Adverum Biotechnologies

Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., a clinical-stage company, develops gene therapy product candidates to treat ocular diseases. Its lead product candidate is ixoberogene soroparvovec (ADVM-022), a single intravitreal injection gene therapy candidate used for the treatment of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema which is in phase 2 clinical trials. The company is developing ADVM-062 (AAV.7m8-L-opsin), a novel gene therapy product candidate for the treatment of blue cone monochromacy via a single IVT injection. Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. has license and collaboration agreements with University of California; GenSight Biologics; Lexeo Therapeutics; and Virovek, Inc. The company was formerly known as Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc. and changed its name to Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. in May 2016. Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.