Financial Analysis: Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX) vs. HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX)

Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX) and HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

68.4% of Compass Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of HilleVax shares are held by institutional investors. 30.0% of Compass Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.3% of HilleVax shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Compass Therapeutics and HilleVax’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$42.49 million	($0.34)	-4.35
HilleVax	N/A	N/A	-$123.57 million	($3.04)	-4.14

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 Compass Therapeutics and HilleVax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	-26.07%	-24.49%
HilleVax	N/A	-48.17%	-38.05%

Volatility and Risk

Compass Therapeutics has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HilleVax has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Compass Therapeutics and HilleVax, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Therapeutics	0	0	2	0	3.00
HilleVax	0	0	3	0	3.00

Compass Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 508.11%. HilleVax has a consensus price target of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 143.77%. Given Compass Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Compass Therapeutics is more favorable than HilleVax.

Summary

Compass Therapeutics beats HilleVax on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines. The company develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus and related illness. 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.