Critical Contrast: NKGen Biotech (NYSE:NKGN) & Cortexyme (NASDAQ:CRTX)

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.2% of Cortexyme shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.2% of NKGen Biotech shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.9% of Cortexyme shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of NKGen Biotech shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Cortexyme and NKGen Biotech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cortexyme	N/A	-70.96%	-63.53%
NKGen Biotech	N/A	N/A	-479.36%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cortexyme and NKGen Biotech”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cortexyme	N/A	N/A	-$89.94 million	($2.97)	-0.57
NKGen Biotech	N/A	N/A	-$82.94 million	($2.45)	-0.06

Cortexyme is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NKGen Biotech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Cortexyme has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NKGen Biotech has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

NKGen Biotech beats Cortexyme on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cortexyme

Cortexyme, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapeutics for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases. Its lead drug candidate is atuzaginstat (COR388), an orally administered brain-penetrating small molecule gingipain inhibitor, which is in Phase II/III clinical trial for use in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, as well as for the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma, periodontitis, and coronavirus infection. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About NKGen Biotech

NKGen Biotech, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on the development and commercialization of autologous, allogeneic, and CAR-NK natural killer cell therapies. It develops SNK01, an autologous NK cell therapy; and SNK02, an allogeneic NK cell therapy, which are in Phase 1 clinical trials. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in Santa Ana, California.