Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK) versus Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) Financial Analysis

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) and Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Agenus and Scholar Rock, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Agenus	0	5	1	0	2.17
Scholar Rock	0	0	6	1	3.14

Agenus currently has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 87.17%. Scholar Rock has a consensus price target of $26.43, suggesting a potential upside of 210.56%. Given Scholar Rock’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Scholar Rock is more favorable than Agenus.

Profitability

This table compares Agenus and Scholar Rock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Agenus	-144.94%	N/A	-77.23%
Scholar Rock	N/A	-114.96%	-77.22%

Risk and Volatility

Agenus has a beta of 1.36, suggesting that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scholar Rock has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.5% of Agenus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of Scholar Rock shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Agenus shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.2% of Scholar Rock shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Agenus and Scholar Rock”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Agenus	$159.63 million	0.73	-$245.76 million	($12.84)	-0.43
Scholar Rock	$33.19 million	20.26	-$165.79 million	($2.09)	-4.03

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

Summary

Scholar Rock beats Agenus on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Agenus

Agenus Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops immuno-oncology products in the United States and internationally. The company offers Retrocyte Display, an antibody expression platform for the identification of fully human and humanized monoclonal antibodies; and display technologies. It develops QS-21 Stimulon adjuvant, a saponin-based vaccine adjuvant. The company also develops Balstilimab, an anti-PD-1 antagonist that has completed Phase II clinical trial to treat second line cervical cancer; AGEN1181, an antigen 4 (CTLA-4) blocking antibody that is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and and melanoma; AGEN2373, a CD137 monospecific antibody that is in Phase 1b clinical trial; AGEN1423, a CD73/TGFß TRAP antibody; AGEN1571, an ILT2 monospecific antibody that is in Phase 1 clinical trial; and BMS-986442, a TIGIT bispecific antibodies. In addition, it develops INCAGN1876, a GITR agonist; INCAGN2390, a TIM-3 monospecific antibody; INCAGN2385, a LAG-3 monospecific antibody; MK-4830, a monospecific antibody targeting ILT4 that is in Phase 2 clinical trial; UGN-301, a zalifrelimab intravesical solution for the treatment of cancers of the urinary tract that is in a Phase 1 clinical trial; and AGEN1884, a first-generation anti-CTLA-4 monospecific antibody. The company operates under Agenus, MiNK, Prophage, Retrocyte Display, and Stimulon trademarks. It has collaborations with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Incyte Corporation, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and Gilead Sciences, Inc. The company was formerly known as Antigenics Inc. and changed its name to Agenus Inc. in January 2011. Agenus Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.

About Scholar Rock

Scholar Rock Holding Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and delivery of medicines for the treatment of serious diseases in which signaling by protein growth factors plays a fundamental role. The company develops Apitegromab, an inhibitor of the activation of myostatin that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy; and SRK-181, which has completed Phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of cancers that are resistant to checkpoint inhibitor therapies, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody therapies. It is developing a pipeline of product candidates to deliver novel therapies to treat a range of serious diseases, including neuromuscular disorders, cardiometabolic disorders, cancer, fibrosis, and iron-restricted anemia. Scholar Rock Holding Corporation was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.