Head to Head Contrast: Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCA) & Scilex (NASDAQ:SCLX)

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 69.7% of Scilex shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Scilex shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Genocea Biosciences and Scilex’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Genocea Biosciences	$1.91 million	0.00	-$33.20 million	($0.61)	N/A
Scilex	$46.74 million	3.47	-$114.33 million	($1.29)	-0.76

Genocea Biosciences has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Scilex. Scilex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Genocea Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Genocea Biosciences and Scilex, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Genocea Biosciences	0	0	0	0	N/A
Scilex	0	0	2	0	3.00

Scilex has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 719.08%.

Profitability

This table compares Genocea Biosciences and Scilex’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Genocea Biosciences	N/A	-182.88%	-62.76%
Scilex	-244.60%	N/A	-112.17%

Risk & Volatility

Genocea Biosciences has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scilex has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Genocea Biosciences beats Scilex on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Genocea Biosciences

Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops novel cancer immunotherapies. The company uses its proprietary discovery platform, ATLAS, which profiles each patient's CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune responses to every target or antigen identified by next-generation sequencing of that patient's tumor. Its products include GEN-011, an adoptive T cell therapy, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors; and GEN-009, a neoantigen vaccine candidate, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials that delivers adjuvanted synthetic long peptides spanning ATLAS-identified anti-tumor neoantigens. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On July 5, 2022, Genocea Biosciences, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.

About Scilex

Scilex Holding Company focuses on acquiring, developing, and commercializing non-opioid pain management products for the treatment of acute and chronic pain. Its commercial products include ZTlido (lidocaine topical system) 1.8% (ZTlido), a prescription lidocaine topical product for the relief of neuropathic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a form of post-shingles nerve pain; ELYXYB, a ready-to-use oral solution for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults; and GLOPERBA, a liquid oral version of the anti-gout medicine colchicine indicated for the prophylaxis of painful gout flares in adults. The company is also developing three product candidates, including SP-102 (10 mg dexamethasone sodium phosphate viscous gel) (SEMDEXA), a novel viscous gel formulation of a used corticosteroid for epidural injections, which has completed a Phase 3 study to treat lumbosacral radicular pain or sciatica; SP-103 (lidocaine topical system) 5.4% (SP-103), a formulation of ZTlido for the treatment of chronic neck pain and low back pain (LBP) that has completed a Phase 2 trial; and SP-104 (4.5 mg low-dose naltrexone hydrochloride delayed-release capsules) (SP-104), a novel low-dose delayed-release naltrexone hydrochloride, which has completed Phase 1 trials for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.