Financial Contrast: Cibus (NASDAQ:CBUS) and Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL)

Cibus (NASDAQ:CBUS) and Local Bounti (NYSE:LOCL) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Cibus and Local Bounti’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cibus	-5,681.55%	-83.67%	-20.85%
Local Bounti	-294.95%	N/A	-29.97%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cibus and Local Bounti”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cibus	$4.85 million	15.11	-$251.39 million	($10.45)	-0.13
Local Bounti	$38.14 million	1.67	-$119.90 million	($14.17)	-0.20

Local Bounti has higher revenue and earnings than Cibus. Local Bounti is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cibus, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

33.8% of Cibus shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.0% of Local Bounti shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.2% of Cibus shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of Local Bounti shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Cibus has a beta of 1.68, suggesting that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Local Bounti has a beta of 2.05, suggesting that its share price is 105% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cibus and Local Bounti, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cibus	0	0	3	0	3.00
Local Bounti	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cibus presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,529.63%. Given Cibus’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Cibus is more favorable than Local Bounti.

Summary

Cibus beats Local Bounti on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cibus

Cibus, Inc., a agricultural biotechnology company, develops and licenses plant traits to seed companies for royalties. The company primarily focus on trait productivity in two areas, including productivity traits that enable farmers to have higher yields and reduce the use of the crop protection chemicals and fertilizers; and sustainable ingredients that enable corporations to replace ingredients that are fossil fuel based or whose production results in increased greenhouse gases. Cibus, Inc. is based in San Diego, California.

About Local Bounti

Local Bounti Corporation grows and packs fresh greens in the United States. It produces lettuce, herbs, and loose-leaf lettuce. The company sells its products to food retailers and food service distributors. Local Bounti Corporation was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Montana.