Analyzing Adagene (NASDAQ:ADAG) & Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM)

Adagene (NASDAQ:ADAG) and Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, risk, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.5% of Adagene shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.7% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.2% of Adagene shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.5% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by company 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 current ratings and price targets for Adagene and Beam Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adagene	1	0	2	2	3.00
Beam Therapeutics	1	3	11	1	2.75

Adagene presently has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 80.59%. Beam Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $49.36, suggesting a potential upside of 101.54%. Given Beam Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Beam Therapeutics is more favorable than Adagene.

Profitability

This table compares Adagene and Beam Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adagene	N/A	N/A	N/A
Beam Therapeutics	-57.24%	-30.65%	-23.73%

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adagene	$7.67 million	27.22	-$33.42 million	N/A	N/A
Beam Therapeutics	$139.74 million	17.85	-$79.99 million	($1.01)	-24.25

Adagene has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Beam Therapeutics.

Risk and Volatility

Adagene has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Beam Therapeutics has a beta of 2.18, suggesting that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Adagene beats Beam Therapeutics on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adagene

Adagene Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, engages in the research, development, and production of monoclonal antibody drugs for cancers. The company's product candidates include ADG106, a human ligand-blocking agonistic anti- CD137 IgG4 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trials for the treatment advanced solid tumors and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; ADG126, a masked fully-human anti-CTLA-4 mAb that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment advanced/metastatic solid tumors; and ADG116, a human ligand-blocking anti-CTLA-4 mAb, which is in Phase 1b/2 clinical development for the treatment of advanced/metastatic solid tumors. It also offers ADG104, an anti-PD-L1 mAb that is in Phase 2 clinical development; ADG125, a novel anti-CSF-1R mAb, which is in Phase I clinical trial; ADG206, a masked, Fc engineered anti-CD137 agonistic POWERbody; ADG153, a masked anti-CD47 IgG1 SAFEbody, which is in preclinical for the treatment hematologic and solid tumors; ADG138, novel HER2xCD3 POWERbody, which is in preclinical for the treatment HER2-expressing solid tumors; and ADG152, a v POWERbody, which is in preclinical stage for the treatment off-tumor toxicities, as well as develops anti-CD28 bispecific POWERbody TCEs. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Suzhou, China.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a. The company has research collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc., focus on in vivo base editing programs for targets rare genetic diseases of the liver, muscle, and central nervous system; Apellis Pharmaceuticals to conduct preclinical research on target specific genes within the complement system in various organs, including the eye, liver, and brain; Verve Therapeutics, Inc., for cardiovascular disease treatments; Sana Biotechnology, Inc., to research, develop, and commercialize rights to CRISPR Cas12b for cell therapy programs; and Orbital Therapeutics design RNA for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of human disease. Beam Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.