Critical Contrast: ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) vs. Rafael (NYSE:RFL)

Rafael (NYSE:RFL) and ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Rafael and ProKidney, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rafael	1	0	0	0	1.00
ProKidney	2	1	3	0	2.17

ProKidney has a consensus price target of $6.25, suggesting a potential upside of 177.78%. Given ProKidney’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe ProKidney is more favorable than Rafael.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.3% of Rafael shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are held by institutional investors. 32.9% of Rafael shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Rafael and ProKidney”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rafael	$920,000.00	69.50	-$30.52 million	($1.03)	-1.20
ProKidney	$80,000.00	8,460.84	-$61.19 million	($0.55)	-4.09

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

Profitability

This table compares Rafael and ProKidney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rafael	-3,328.24%	-33.01%	-27.95%
ProKidney	-9,547.45%	N/A	-18.09%

Volatility and Risk

Rafael has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.79, indicating that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ProKidney beats Rafael on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rafael

Rafael Holdings, Inc. primarily engages in holding interests in clinical and early-stage pharmaceutical companies, and commercial real estate assets in the United States and Israel. It operates in two segments, Healthcare and Real Estate. The company engages in the development and commercialization of therapies that exploit the metabolic differences between normal cells and cancer cells. Its lead drug candidate is CPI-613 (devimistat), currently under Phase III clinical study for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer and acute myeloid leukemia. The company is also involved in developing Promitil, a molecule designed for the targeted delivery of mitomycin-C in a proprietary prodrug form, completed Phase 1B clinical studies; Folate-targeted Promitil (Promi-Fol) which is aimed at local treatment (intravesical) of superficial bladder cancer; and Promi-Dox, a highly potent dual drug liposome with MLP and doxorubicin targeting a potential basket of tumors. In addition, it engages in the development of surgical and procedural devices, including orthopedic arthroscopy instrumentation. Rafael Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease. ProKidney Corp. founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.