Comparing Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) & Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX)

Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX) and Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Compass Therapeutics and Vericel, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Therapeutics	1	1	13	1	2.88
Vericel	0	3	4	0	2.57

Compass Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $11.77, suggesting a potential upside of 474.11%. Vericel has a consensus price target of $58.40, suggesting a potential upside of 54.21%. Given Compass Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Compass Therapeutics is more favorable than Vericel.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Compass Therapeutics and Vericel”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Therapeutics	$850,000.00	434.33	-$66.49 million	($0.40)	-5.12
Vericel	$276.26 million	7.02	$16.52 million	$0.47	80.57

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

Volatility & Risk

Compass Therapeutics has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericel has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Therapeutics and Vericel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	-38.71%	-34.72%
Vericel	7.91%	6.91%	5.02%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

68.4% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.7% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Vericel shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Vericel beats Compass Therapeutics on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Compass Therapeutics

Compass Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat various human diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidates include CTX-009, a bispecific antibody that blocks Delta-like ligand 4 a ligand of Notch-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A signaling pathways, which are critical to angiogenesis and tumor vascularization; and CTX-471, an IgG4 monoclonal antibody that is an agonist of CD137, a key co-stimulatory receptor on immune cells. It also develops CTX-8371, a bispecific inhibitor that targets PD-1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor antibodies. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.