Critical Analysis: Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) and AlloVir (NASDAQ:ALVR)

AlloVir (NASDAQ:ALVR) and Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for AlloVir and Caribou Biosciences, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AlloVir	0	0	0	0	0.00
Caribou Biosciences	0	0	4	0	3.00

Caribou Biosciences has a consensus price target of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 574.60%. Given Caribou Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Caribou Biosciences is more favorable than AlloVir.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.1% of AlloVir shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.5% of Caribou Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.1% of AlloVir shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Caribou Biosciences 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.

Risk & Volatility

AlloVir has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Caribou Biosciences has a beta of 2.44, indicating that its stock price is 144% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AlloVir and Caribou Biosciences”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AlloVir	N/A	N/A	-$190.42 million	($20.23)	-0.15
Caribou Biosciences	$9.92 million	11.82	-$102.07 million	($1.62)	-0.78

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

Profitability

This table compares AlloVir and Caribou Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AlloVir	N/A	-71.03%	-61.27%
Caribou Biosciences	-1,290.81%	-45.46%	-38.07%

Summary

Caribou Biosciences beats AlloVir on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AlloVir

AlloVir, Inc. engages in the research, development and commercialization of off-the-shelf VST therapies to prevent and treat severe viral-associated diseases. It develops novel cell therapies with a focus on restoring natural immunity against life-threatening virus-associated diseases in patients with severely weakened immune systems. The firm’s technology platforms deliver commercially scalable solutions by leveraging off-the-shelf, allogeneic, multi-virus specific T-cells targeting devastating viral pathogens for immunocompromised patients under viral attack. The company was founded by Malcolm K. Brenner, Juan F. Vera, Helen E. Heslop, Cliona M. Rooney, John R. Wilson, and Ann M. Leen in August 2013 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.

About Caribou Biosciences

Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of genome-edited allogeneic cell therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies in the United States and internationally. Its lead product candidate is CB-010, an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company also develops CB-011, an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and CB-012, an allogeneic anti-CD371 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Caribou Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.