Reviewing CERo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CERO) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD)

CERo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CERO) and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CERo Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CERo Therapeutics	0	0	2	1	3.33
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	0	6	1	0	2.14

CERo Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 498.40%. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $4.94, indicating a potential upside of 274.24%. Given CERo Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CERo Therapeutics is more favorable than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Risk and Volatility

CERo Therapeutics has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CERo Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CERo Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-209.40%
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	-2.25%	-2.46%	2.19%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CERo Therapeutics and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CERo Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$8.30 million	N/A	N/A
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	$351.41 million	0.61	$880,000.00	($0.05)	-26.40

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than CERo Therapeutics.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

29.6% of CERo Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 12.7% of CERo Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.7% of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CERo Therapeutics beats Ironwood Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CERo Therapeutics

CERo Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., an immunotherapy company, focuses on advancing the development of engineered T cell therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Its lead program in hematologic malignancies targets an Eat Me signal upregulated on B cell and myeloid tumors. The company is based in South San Francisco, California.

About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a healthcare company, focuses on the development and commercialization of gastrointestinal (GI) products. It markets linaclotide, a guanylate cyclase type-C (GC-C) agonist for the treatment of adults suffering from irritable bowel syndrome with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation under the LINZESS name in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China, as well as under the CONSTELLA name in the Canada and European countries. The company is also developing IW-3300, a GC-C agonist for the treatment of visceral pain conditions, including interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and endometriosis; Apraglutide, a next-generation, long-acting synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2, as a differentiated therapeutic for rare diseases, including short bowel syndrome dependent on parenteral support and acute graft versus host disease; and CNP-104, an immune nanoparticle for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis. The company has strategic partnerships with AbbVie Inc., AstraZeneca AB, and Astellas Pharma Inc. for the development and commercialization of linaclotide. The company was formerly known as Microbia, Inc. and changed its name to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in April 2008. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.