Comparing Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) & Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA)

Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) and Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.0% of Centessa Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.9% of Relay Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Centessa Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Relay Therapeutics and Centessa Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Relay Therapeutics	N/A	-43.17%	-39.22%
Centessa Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-50.66%	-36.65%

Volatility & Risk

Relay Therapeutics has a beta of 1.57, indicating that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Centessa Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Relay Therapeutics and Centessa Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Relay Therapeutics	1	1	6	1	2.78
Centessa Pharmaceuticals	1	8	5	0	2.29

Relay Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $18.38, indicating a potential upside of 14.06%. Centessa Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.19%. Given Relay Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Relay Therapeutics is more favorable than Centessa Pharmaceuticals.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Relay Therapeutics and Centessa Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Relay Therapeutics	$15.35 million	187.58	-$276.48 million	($1.62)	-9.94
Centessa Pharmaceuticals	$15.00 million	407.34	-$197.53 million	($1.47)	-26.89

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

Summary

Relay Therapeutics beats Centessa Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage precision medicines company. It engages in transforming the drug discovery process with an initial focus on enhancing small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications. The company’s lead product candidates include RLY-4008, an oral small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), which is in a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic FGFR2-altered solid tumors; RLY-2608, a lead mutant-PI3Ka inhibitor program that targets phosphoinostide 3 kinase alpha; and Migoprotafib (GDC-1971), an oral, small molecule, potent and selective inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 that binds and stabilizes Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP2) as a monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. In addition, it has collaboration and license agreements with D. E. Shaw Research, LLC to research certain biological targets through the use of D. E. Shaw Research computational modeling capabilities focused on analysis of protein motion to develop and commercialize compounds and products directed to such targets; and Genentech, Inc. for the development and commercialization of GDC-1971. The company was formerly known as Allostery, Inc. and changed its name to Relay Therapeutics, Inc. in December 2015. Relay Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and delivers medicines for patients. Its products pipeline includes SerpinPC, an activated protein C inhibitor for the treatment of hemophilia A and B; and ORX750, an orally administered OX2R agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy and other sleep disorders. The company also develops LB101, a PD-L1xCD47 LockBody, a bi-specific monoclonal antibody for solid tumors, which is designed to selectively drive potent CD47 and CD3 effector function activity while avoiding systemic toxicity; and OX2R Agonists compounds are currently in development for the treatment of narcolepsy. In addition, its products pipeline comprises ORX750, an orally administered selective orexin receptor-2 (OX2R) agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy and other sleep disorders; and earlier-stage preclinical assets and discovery-stage programs. Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Altrincham, the United Kingdom.