Financial Contrast: Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) vs. VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT)

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) and VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Aura Biosciences and VectivBio, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aura Biosciences	0	0	2	0	3.00
VectivBio	0	2	3	0	2.60

Aura Biosciences presently has a consensus price target of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 139.06%. VectivBio has a consensus price target of $24.33, suggesting a potential upside of 44.41%. Given Aura Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Aura Biosciences is more favorable than VectivBio.

Profitability

This table compares Aura Biosciences and VectivBio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aura Biosciences	N/A	-41.32%	-35.47%
VectivBio	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.19, indicating that its share price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VectivBio has a beta of 0.11, indicating that its share price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Aura Biosciences and VectivBio’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aura Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$58.76 million	($2.00)	-4.92
VectivBio	$27.34 million	20.97	-$93.74 million	N/A	N/A

Aura Biosciences has higher earnings, but lower revenue than VectivBio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of VectivBio shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc. operates as a biotechnology company that develops therapies to treat cancer. The company develops virus-like drug conjugates (VDC) technology platform for treating tumors of high unmet need in ocular and urologic oncology. It is developing AU-011, a VDC candidate for the treatment of primary choroidal melanoma that is in phase III clinical trial. The company also develops AU-011 for additional ocular oncology indications, including choroidal metastases and is in Phase 2 dose-escalation trial. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About VectivBio

VectivBio Holding AG, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of medicines for treatments of severe rare conditions. It develops apraglutide, a long-acting synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2 that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of patients with short bowel syndrome-intestinal failure (SBS-IF), as well as apraglutide is in Phase II clinical trial for SBS-IF in patients with colon-in-continuity anatomy. The company is also developing apraglutide, which is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with steroid-refractory gastrointestinal acute versus host disease (aGvHD). VectivBio Holding AG was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. As of June 29, 2023, VectivBio Holding AG operates as a subsidiary of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.