Contrasting Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) & Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT)

Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT) and Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Arcturus Therapeutics and Zenas BioPharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcturus Therapeutics	-143.80%	-36.55%	-28.40%
Zenas BioPharma	N/A	-99.99%	-58.06%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Arcturus Therapeutics and Zenas BioPharma, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcturus Therapeutics	1	3	6	1	2.64
Zenas BioPharma	1	2	6	0	2.56

Arcturus Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $24.25, indicating a potential upside of 338.52%. Zenas BioPharma has a consensus price target of $44.29, indicating a potential upside of 45.72%. Given Arcturus Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Arcturus Therapeutics is more favorable than Zenas BioPharma.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

94.5% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Zenas BioPharma shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Arcturus Therapeutics and Zenas BioPharma”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcturus Therapeutics	$42.35 million	3.71	-$65.78 million	($2.81)	-1.97
Zenas BioPharma	$10.00 million	191.85	-$377.74 million	($8.47)	-3.59

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

Volatility & Risk

Arcturus Therapeutics has a beta of 2.37, indicating that its stock price is 137% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zenas BioPharma has a beta of -0.96, indicating that its stock price is 196% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Arcturus Therapeutics beats Zenas BioPharma on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcturus Therapeutics

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., a late-stage clinical messenger RNA medicines and vaccine company, focuses on the development of infectious disease vaccines and other products within liver and respiratory rare diseases. Its technology platforms include LUNAR lipid-mediated delivery and STARR mRNA. The company is developing ARCT-810 (LUNAR-OTC), a mRNA-based therapeutic candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for treating ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency; and ARCT-154 (LUNAR-COV19), a mRNA vaccine candidate that is in Phase 3 arm of a Phase 1/2/3 study in Vietnam for the treatment of COVID-19, as well as ARCT-032 (LUNAR-CF), a mRNA therapeutic candidate for cystic fibrosis. Its product pipeline includes, ARCT-2301 for bivalent: ancestral/omicron which is in Phase 3; ARCT-2303 for monovalent that is in Phase 3; ARCT-2138 for quadrivalent which is in Phase 1; and LUNAR-FLU which is in pre-clinical trial. Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and commercialization of transformative immunology-based therapies for patients. The company was founded by Lonnie O. Moulder Jr on November 12, 2019 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.