Contrasting Pluri (NASDAQ:PLUR) & CARGO Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRGX)

CARGO Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRGX) and Pluri (NASDAQ:PLUR) 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, valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.2% of CARGO Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.6% of Pluri shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of CARGO Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.2% of Pluri shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CARGO Therapeutics and Pluri, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CARGO Therapeutics	1	6	0	0	1.86
Pluri	0	0	0	0	0.00

CARGO Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 261.45%. Given CARGO Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe CARGO Therapeutics is more favorable than Pluri.

Profitability

This table compares CARGO Therapeutics and Pluri’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CARGO Therapeutics	N/A	-38.16%	-33.94%
Pluri	-3,551.49%	-2,778.13%	-83.61%

Volatility and Risk

CARGO Therapeutics has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pluri has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CARGO Therapeutics and Pluri”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CARGO Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$98.15 million	($4.62)	-0.90
Pluri	$1.03 million	34.47	-$20.89 million	($5.53)	-0.82

Pluri has higher revenue and earnings than CARGO Therapeutics. CARGO Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pluri, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

CARGO Therapeutics beats Pluri on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CARGO Therapeutics

CARGO Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer patients. The company's lead program is CRG-022, an autologous CD22 CAR T-cell product candidate designed to address resistance mechanisms by targeting CD22, an alternate tumor antigen that is expressed in B-cell malignancies. It also develops CRG-023, a tri-specific CAR T product candidate that targets tumor cells with three B-cell antigen targets. The company was formerly known as Syncopation Life Sciences, Inc. and changed its name to CARGO Therapeutics, Inc. in September 2022. CARGO Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

About Pluri

Pluri Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of placenta-based cell therapy product candidates for the treatment of inflammatory, muscle injuries, and hematologic conditions. It operates in the field of regenerative medicine, food-tech, and biologics and focuses on establishing partnerships that leverage its 3D cell-based technology to additional industries that require mass cell production. The company's development pipeline includes PLX-PAD, is composed of maternal mesenchymal stromal cells originating from the placenta that is currently under phase III study for orthopedic, phase II study for COVID-19, and phase I/II clinical study for Steroid-Refractory cGVHD indications; and PLX-R18, is composed of fetal MSC like cells originating from the placenta that is currently under phase I study for HCT and pilot study for ARS indications. It is also involved in the development of modified PLX cells. The company was formerly known as Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. and changed its name to Pluri Inc. in July 2022. Pluri Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is based in Haifa, Israel.