Critical Contrast: IDEAYA Biosciences (NASDAQ:IDYA) versus Oculis (NASDAQ:OCS)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.3% of IDEAYA Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.3% of Oculis shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of IDEAYA Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for IDEAYA Biosciences and Oculis, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
IDEAYA Biosciences	0	0	12	0	3.00
Oculis	0	0	8	0	3.00

IDEAYA Biosciences currently has a consensus target price of $33.42, indicating a potential upside of 10.03%. Oculis has a consensus target price of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 250.15%. Given Oculis’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Oculis is more favorable than IDEAYA Biosciences.

Profitability

This table compares IDEAYA Biosciences and Oculis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
IDEAYA Biosciences	-439.48%	-24.39%	-22.77%
Oculis	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares IDEAYA Biosciences and Oculis’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
IDEAYA Biosciences	$23.49 million	83.36	-$58.65 million	($1.95)	-15.57
Oculis	$960,000.00	368.07	-$40.55 million	N/A	N/A

Oculis has lower revenue, but higher earnings than IDEAYA Biosciences.

Summary

Oculis beats IDEAYA Biosciences on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About IDEAYA Biosciences

IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc., a synthetic lethality-focused precision medicine oncology company, focuses on the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics for patient populations selected using molecular diagnostics. The company's lead product candidates include IDE397, a methionine adenosyltransferase 2a inhibitor that is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with solid tumors having methylthioadenosine phosphorylase gene deletions; and IDE196, a protein kinase C inhibitor that is in Phase I/II clinical trial for genetically defined cancers having GNAQ or GNA11 gene mutations. Its preclinical pipeline includes various synthetic lethality programs targeting PARG inhibitor in tumors for patients having tumors with a defined biomarker based on genetic mutations and/or molecular signatures; Pol Theta inhibitors in tumors with BRCA or other homologous recombination deficiency mutations; and WRN inhibitors in tumors with high microsatellite instability. The company has a research collaboration agreement with Cancer Research UK and the University of Manchester todevelop small molecule inhibitors of Poly (ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase; and a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement with Pfizer Inc. for Phase II/III study in metastatic uveal melanoma, as well as a strategic partnership with GlaxoSmithKline plc. IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Oculis

Oculis Holding AG, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops novel topical treatments for ophthalmic diseases for both back- and front-of-the-eye. The company's lead candidate is OCS-01, a topical dexamethasone formulation, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of diabetic macular edema; OCS-02, a topical biologic candidate that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for the treatment for keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or dry eye disease; and OCS-05, a novel neuroprotective agent for acute optic neuritis and other neuro-ophtha disorders, such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, geographic atrophy, and neurotrophic keratitis. The company is based in Zug, Switzerland.