Financial Analysis: Sutro Biopharma (NASDAQ:STRO) vs. Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCA)

Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCA) and Sutro Biopharma (NASDAQ:STRO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Genocea Biosciences and Sutro Biopharma’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Genocea Biosciences	$1.91 million	0.00	-$33.20 million	($0.61)	N/A
Sutro Biopharma	$153.73 million	2.29	-$119.20 million	($1.78)	-3.17

Genocea Biosciences has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Sutro Biopharma. Sutro Biopharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Genocea Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Sutro Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.9% of Sutro Biopharma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Genocea Biosciences and Sutro Biopharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Genocea Biosciences	N/A	-182.88%	-62.76%
Sutro Biopharma	-69.47%	-71.42%	-24.92%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Genocea Biosciences and Sutro Biopharma, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Genocea Biosciences	0	0	0	0	N/A
Sutro Biopharma	0	0	7	0	3.00

Sutro Biopharma has a consensus target price of $13.71, suggesting a potential upside of 142.73%.

Volatility and Risk

Genocea Biosciences has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its share price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sutro Biopharma has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sutro Biopharma beats Genocea Biosciences on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Genocea Biosciences

Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops novel cancer immunotherapies. The company uses its proprietary discovery platform, ATLAS, which profiles each patient's CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune responses to every target or antigen identified by next-generation sequencing of that patient's tumor. Its products include GEN-011, an adoptive T cell therapy, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors; and GEN-009, a neoantigen vaccine candidate, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials that delivers adjuvanted synthetic long peptides spanning ATLAS-identified anti-tumor neoantigens. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On July 5, 2022, Genocea Biosciences, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts.

About Sutro Biopharma

Sutro Biopharma, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage oncology company. It develops site-specific and novel-format antibody drug conjugates (ADC) that enables its proprietary integrated cell-free protein synthesis platform, XpressCF and XpressCF+. The company's product candidates include STRO-001, an ADC directed against the cancer target CD74 for patients with multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is in Phase 1 clinical trials; and STRO-002, an ADC directed against folate receptor-alpha for patients with ovarian and endometrial cancers, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials. Its pre-clinical product candidate STRO-003, a ADC directed against an anti-receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) for the treatment of solid tumors. It has collaboration and license agreements with Merck Collaboration to develop research programs focusing on cytokine derivatives for cancer and autoimmune disorders; Celgene Corporation to discover and develop bispecific antibodies and/or ADCs focused on the field of immuno-oncology; EMD Serono to develop ADCs for multiple cancer targets; and Astellas Pharma Inc. to develop ADC. The company was formerly known as Fundamental Applied Biology, Inc. Sutro Biopharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.