HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX – Get Free Report) and Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for HilleVax and Compass Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| HilleVax | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Compass Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 |
HilleVax presently has a consensus price target of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 126.16%. Compass Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 473.25%. Given Compass Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Compass Therapeutics is more favorable than HilleVax.
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| HilleVax | N/A | N/A | -$123.57 million | ($3.04) | -4.46 |
| Compass Therapeutics | N/A | N/A | -$42.49 million | ($0.34) | -4.62 |
Compass Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HilleVax, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares HilleVax and Compass Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| HilleVax | N/A | -48.17% | -38.05% |
| Compass Therapeutics | N/A | -26.07% | -24.49% |
Volatility & Risk
HilleVax has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Therapeutics has a beta of 0.78, suggesting that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
86.4% of HilleVax shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.3% of HilleVax shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 30.0% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Compass Therapeutics beats HilleVax on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.
About HilleVax
HilleVax, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines in the United States. It develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus infection. The company was formerly known as MokshaCo, Inc. and changed its name to HilleVax, Inc. in February 2021. HilleVax, Inc. was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About Compass Therapeutics
Compass Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat various human diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidates include CTX-009, a bispecific antibody that blocks Delta-like ligand 4 a ligand of Notch-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A signaling pathways, which are critical to angiogenesis and tumor vascularization; and CTX-471, an IgG4 monoclonal antibody that is an agonist of CD137, a key co-stimulatory receptor on immune cells. It also develops CTX-8371, a bispecific inhibitor that targets PD-1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor antibodies. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
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