Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) versus CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Head-To-Head Review

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) and Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares CRISPR Therapeutics and Relay Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CRISPR Therapeutics	-1,812.07%	-25.59%	-17.89%
Relay Therapeutics	N/A	-40.25%	-36.82%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

69.2% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.2% of CRISPR Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CRISPR Therapeutics and Relay Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CRISPR Therapeutics	1	8	8	2	2.58
Relay Therapeutics	1	1	10	2	2.93

CRISPR Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $69.69, indicating a potential upside of 39.18%. Relay Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $25.92, indicating a potential upside of 39.34%. Given Relay Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Relay Therapeutics is more favorable than CRISPR Therapeutics.

Volatility & Risk

CRISPR Therapeutics has a beta of 1.92, suggesting that its share price is 92% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Relay Therapeutics has a beta of 1.74, suggesting that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CRISPR Therapeutics and Relay Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CRISPR Therapeutics	$23.32 million	208.24	-$581.60 million	($4.74)	-10.56
Relay Therapeutics	$15.35 million	265.54	-$276.48 million	($1.51)	-12.32

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

Summary

Relay Therapeutics beats CRISPR Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases. To accelerate and expand its efforts, CRISPR Therapeutics has established strategic collaborations with companies including Bayer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and ViaCyte, Inc. CRISPR Therapeutics AG is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, CRISPR Therapeutics, Inc., and R&D operations based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and business offices in San Francisco, California and London, United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.crisprtx.com.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage precision medicines company. It engages in transforming the drug discovery process with an initial focus on enhancing small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications. The company’s lead product candidates include RLY-4008, an oral small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), which is in a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic FGFR2-altered solid tumors; RLY-2608, a lead mutant-PI3Ka inhibitor program that targets phosphoinostide 3 kinase alpha; and Migoprotafib (GDC-1971), an oral, small molecule, potent and selective inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 that binds and stabilizes Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP2) as a monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. In addition, it has collaboration and license agreements with D. E. Shaw Research, LLC to research certain biological targets through the use of D. E. Shaw Research computational modeling capabilities focused on analysis of protein motion to develop and commercialize compounds and products directed to such targets; and Genentech, Inc. for the development and commercialization of GDC-1971. The company was formerly known as Allostery, Inc. and changed its name to Relay Therapeutics, Inc. in December 2015. Relay Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.