Contrasting Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) & Applied Therapeutics (NASDAQ:APLT)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.3% of Applied Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.8% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 1.6% of Applied Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Applied Therapeutics and Aura Biosciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Applied Therapeutics	$460,000.00	292.47	-$105.62 million	($0.45)	-2.08
Aura Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$86.92 million	($1.96)	-3.07

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

Risk and Volatility

Applied Therapeutics has a beta of 2.07, meaning that its stock price is 107% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Applied Therapeutics and Aura Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Applied Therapeutics	N/A	-354.24%	-144.16%
Aura Biosciences	N/A	-64.44%	-54.24%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Applied Therapeutics and Aura Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Applied Therapeutics	0	3	2	0	2.40
Aura Biosciences	0	1	6	1	3.00

Applied Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $4.13, indicating a potential upside of 341.55%. Aura Biosciences has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 265.45%. Given Applied Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Applied Therapeutics is more favorable than Aura Biosciences.

Summary

Aura Biosciences beats Applied Therapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Applied Therapeutics

Applied Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of a pipeline of novel product candidates against validated molecular targets in indications of high unmet medical need in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is AT-007 (also called govorestat) that has completed phase 3 for the treatment of galactosemia in healthy volunteers and adults, in pediatric clinical study for the treatment of galactosemia in kids, for treating enzyme sorbitol dehydrogenase, and for the treatment of phosphomannomutase enzyme-CDG. It also develops AT-001 (also called caficrestat) that is in phase 3 clinical trials to treat diabetic cardiomyopathy, as well as for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy; and AT-003, which is in preclinical studies for the treatment diabetic retinopathy. The company has exclusive license and supply agreement with Mercury Pharma Group Limited to commercialize drug products containing AT-007. Applied Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates. Its lead candidate is bel-sar, which is in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of patients with primary choroidal melanoma and other ocular oncology indications, as well as in early-stage clinical development in bladder cancer. The company also focuses on assessing the safety and efficacy of bel-sar in treating a range of other solid tumors, including bladder cancer as an alternative to bacillus calmetteguérin therapy. Aura Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.