Critical Analysis: Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) and Entera Bio (NASDAQ:ENTX)

Entera Bio (NASDAQ:ENTX) and Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Entera Bio and Precigen, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Entera Bio	1	0	0	1	2.50
Precigen	1	1	4	0	2.50

Entera Bio currently has a consensus price target of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 426.32%. Precigen has a consensus price target of $8.25, indicating a potential upside of 153.85%. Given Entera Bio’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Entera Bio is more favorable than Precigen.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

14.1% of Entera Bio shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Precigen shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Entera Bio shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 47.1% of Precigen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Entera Bio has a beta of 1.68, indicating that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Precigen has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Entera Bio and Precigen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Entera Bio	-4,525.11%	-77.75%	-68.13%
Precigen	-2,868.66%	-842.83%	-78.98%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Entera Bio and Precigen”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Entera Bio	$166,000.00	522.65	-$9.54 million	($0.26)	-7.31
Precigen	$3.92 million	247.04	-$126.24 million	($0.42)	-7.74

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

Summary

Entera Bio beats Precigen on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Entera Bio

Entera Bio Ltd., a clinical-stage company, focuses on the development and commercialization of orally delivered peptide and protein therapeutics for unmet medical needs. The company's product candidates include the EB612, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of hypoparathyroidism; and EB613 that has completed Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of osteoporosis, as well as is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of stress fractures. Its other product candidate is GLP-2, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of short bowl syndrome; and OXM for the treatment of obesity and metabolic diseases. The company has a research collaboration and license agreement with the Amgen Inc. for the development and discovery of clinical candidates in the field of inflammatory disease and other serious illnesses. Entera Bio Ltd. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Jerusalem, Israel.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc. operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar. The company offers therapeutic platforms consisting of UltraCAR-T to provide chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies for cancer patients; AdenoVerse immunotherapy, which utilizes a library of proprietary adenovectors for gene delivery of therapeutic effectors, immunomodulators, and vaccine antigen; and ActoBiotics for specific disease modification. It also develops programs based on the UltraCAR-T platform, including PRGN-3005 in Phase 1b clinical trial to treat advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer; PRGN-3006 in Phase 1b trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes; and PRGN-3007 in Phase 1/1b trial for the treatment of advanced receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1-positive, hematologic, and solid tumors. In addition, the company is developing programs based on the AdenoVerse immunotherapy platform comprising PRGN-2009 in Phase 2 trial for patients with HPV-associated cancer; and PRGN-2012 in Phase ½ trial to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as AG019, which is based on the ActoBiotics platform and in Phase 1b/2a trial, to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. Further, it provides UltraPorator, a proprietary electroporation device; and develops research models and services for healthcare research applications. The company was formerly known as Intrexon Corporation and changed its name to Precigen, Inc. in February 2020. Precigen, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland.