Ikena Oncology (NASDAQ:IKNA – Get Free Report) and HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Ikena Oncology and HilleVax, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Ikena Oncology | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| HilleVax | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
Ikena Oncology currently has a consensus price target of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 593.43%. HilleVax has a consensus price target of $30.67, indicating a potential upside of 127.50%. Given Ikena Oncology’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ikena Oncology is more favorable than HilleVax.
Earnings & Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Ikena Oncology | $9.16 million | 7.22 | -$68.17 million | ($1.64) | -0.84 |
| HilleVax | N/A | N/A | -$123.57 million | ($3.04) | -4.43 |
Ikena Oncology has higher revenue and earnings than HilleVax. HilleVax is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ikena Oncology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Ikena Oncology and HilleVax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Ikena Oncology | N/A | -44.21% | -37.27% |
| HilleVax | N/A | -48.17% | -38.05% |
Risk & Volatility
Ikena Oncology has a beta of 0.33, meaning that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HilleVax has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
75.0% of Ikena Oncology shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of HilleVax shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of Ikena Oncology shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 29.3% of HilleVax shares are owned by 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
Ikena Oncology beats HilleVax on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Ikena Oncology
Ikena Oncology, Inc. operates as an oncology company that develops differentiated therapies for patients in need that target nodes of cancer growth, spread, and therapeutic resistance in the United States. Its lead program is IK-930, an internally discovered, oral, TEAD1-selective, small molecule inhibitor of the Hippo pathway. The company also develops IK-595, a molecular glue designed to trap MEK and RAF in an inactive complex. Ikena Oncology, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
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.
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