Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX – Get Free Report) and Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Pliant Therapeutics and Arbutus Biopharma”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | $1.58 million | 31.73 | -$149.34 million | ($1.49) | -0.54 |
| Arbutus Biopharma | $14.08 million | 51.36 | -$33.50 million | $0.79 | 4.62 |
Arbutus Biopharma has higher revenue and earnings than Pliant Therapeutics. Pliant Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arbutus Biopharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Pliant Therapeutics and Arbutus Biopharma, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Arbutus Biopharma | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.50 |
Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 270.51%. Arbutus Biopharma has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 36.99%. Given Pliant Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Pliant Therapeutics is more favorable than Arbutus Biopharma.
Profitability
This table compares Pliant Therapeutics and Arbutus Biopharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | N/A | -52.17% | -40.46% |
| Arbutus Biopharma | 84.22% | 90.98% | 82.34% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
97.3% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.8% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.9% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are held by 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.
Risk & Volatility
Pliant Therapeutics has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arbutus Biopharma has a beta of 0.84, meaning that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Arbutus Biopharma beats Pliant Therapeutics on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Pliant Therapeutics
Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of fibrosis and related diseases in the United States. The company's lead candidate is bexotegrast, an oral, small-molecule, dual selective inhibitor of avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is in phase 2b trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in phase 2a trial for primary sclerosing cholangitis. It also develops PLN-1474, an oral, small-molecule selective inhibitor of avß1 for the treatment of liver fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; PLN-101095, a dual inhibitor of integrins avß8 and avß1 for the treatment of solid tumors; and PLN-101325 for treatment of muscular dystrophies. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in South San Francisco, California.
About Arbutus Biopharma
Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression. The company’s research and development programs include AB-101, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor to reawaken patients’ HBV-specific immune system; and small molecule antiviral medicines to treat coronaviruses, including COVID-19. It has licensing agreements with Gritstone Oncology, Inc; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Qilu Pharmaceuticals Co, Ltd; Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.; and Antios Therapeutics, Inc. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation also has a clinical collaboration agreement with Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc to evaluate VTP-300. The company was formerly known as Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Arbutus Biopharma Corporation in July 2015. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
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