Prelude Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PRLD) versus Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) Financial Contrast

Talphera (NASDAQ:TLPH) and Prelude Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PRLD) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Talphera has a beta of -0.16, indicating that its share price is 116% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Prelude Therapeutics has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Talphera and Prelude Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Talphera	0	0	2	2	3.50
Prelude Therapeutics	0	0	2	0	3.00

Talphera presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 451.63%. Prelude Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 166.67%. Given Talphera’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Talphera is more favorable than Prelude Therapeutics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

37.7% of Talphera shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.7% of Prelude Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.7% of Talphera shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 63.9% of Prelude Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Talphera and Prelude Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Talphera	$650,000.00	63.57	-$13.00 million	($0.40)	-2.27
Prelude Therapeutics	$7.00 million	12.13	-$127.17 million	($1.64)	-0.91

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

Profitability

This table compares Talphera and Prelude Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Talphera	N/A	-152.38%	-64.32%
Prelude Therapeutics	N/A	-106.50%	-79.07%

Summary

Talphera beats Prelude Therapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Talphera

Talphera, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for use in medically supervised settings. Its lead product candidate is Niyad, a lyophilized formulation of nafamostat, which is under an investigational device exemption as an anticoagulant for the extracorporeal circuit. It is also developing LTX-608, an anti-inflammatory and antiviral potential for the treatment of multiple conditions, including disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and acute pancreatitis; Fedsyra, a pre-filled ephedrine syringe; and PFS-02, a pre-filled phenylephrine syringe. The company was formerly known as AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Talphera, Inc. in January 2024. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

About Prelude Therapeutics

Prelude Therapeutics Incorporated, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of novel precision cancer medicines to underserved patients. It is developing PRT1419, a myeloid cell leukemia-1 inhibitor, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of selected relapsed/refractory myeloid or B-cell malignancies; PRT2527, a cyclin-dependent kinase, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced solid tumors; PRT3645, a cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced and metastatic solid tumors; and PRT3879, a SMARCA2 selective protein degrader, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trial for the treatment of advanced and metastatic solid tumors with loss of SMARCA4 due to truncating mutation and/or deletion. The company's CDK9 program is a regulator of cancer-promoting transcriptional programs, including MCL1, MYC and MYB. Prelude Therapeutics Incorporated was incorporated in 2016 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.