Critical Contrast: Cartesian Therapeutics (RNAC) versus The Competition

Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC) is one of 1,060 public companies in the “Pharmaceutical preparations” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Cartesian Therapeutics to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Cartesian Therapeutics and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cartesian Therapeutics	0	2	8	0	2.80
Cartesian Therapeutics Competitors	7807	21249	48919	1239	2.55

Cartesian Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $42.86, indicating a potential upside of 116.56%. As a group, “Pharmaceutical preparations” companies have a potential upside of 186.13%. Given Cartesian Therapeutics’ rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cartesian Therapeutics has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Cartesian Therapeutics and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cartesian Therapeutics	-510.72%	N/A	-6.03%
Cartesian Therapeutics Competitors	-3,590.11%	-276.96%	-39.10%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.9% of Cartesian Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.1% of shares of all “Pharmaceutical preparations” companies are owned by institutional investors. 57.9% of Cartesian Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of shares of all “Pharmaceutical preparations” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cartesian Therapeutics and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cartesian Therapeutics	$47.94 million	-$219.71 million	-0.37
Cartesian Therapeutics Competitors	$9.58 billion	$147.39 million	-5.43

Cartesian Therapeutics’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Cartesian Therapeutics. Cartesian Therapeutics is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility and Risk

Cartesian Therapeutics has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cartesian Therapeutics’ rivals have a beta of 3.79, indicating that their average share price is 279% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cartesian Therapeutics beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Cartesian Therapeutics

Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the provision of mRNA cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. It develops Descartes-08, an autologous anti-BCMA RNA-engineered chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, currently under Phase 2b clinical development for generalized myasthenia gravis, as well as for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and myeloma autoimmune basket trials for other autoimmune diseases. The company develops Descartes-15 to treat Autoimmune diseases, myeloma; and Descartes-33 which is in preclinical development for treatment of autoimmune diseases. Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.