Reviewing Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) & Sagimet Biosciences (NASDAQ:SGMT)

Sagimet Biosciences (NASDAQ:SGMT) and Kura Oncology (NASDAQ:KURA) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Sagimet Biosciences has a beta of 3.43, meaning that its share price is 243% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kura Oncology has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.9% of Sagimet Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of Sagimet Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Kura Oncology shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sagimet Biosciences and Kura Oncology, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sagimet Biosciences	2	0	9	0	2.64
Kura Oncology	1	1	11	0	2.77

Sagimet Biosciences presently has a consensus price target of $26.63, indicating a potential upside of 143.68%. Kura Oncology has a consensus price target of $25.88, indicating a potential upside of 248.35%. Given Kura Oncology’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kura Oncology is more favorable than Sagimet Biosciences.

Profitability

This table compares Sagimet Biosciences and Kura Oncology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sagimet Biosciences	N/A	-31.96%	-30.57%
Kura Oncology	-369.26%	-336.24%	-46.03%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sagimet Biosciences and Kura Oncology”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sagimet Biosciences	$2.00 million	339.70	-$51.04 million	($1.28)	-8.54
Kura Oncology	$67.48 million	10.12	-$278.67 million	($3.37)	-2.20

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

Summary

Sagimet Biosciences beats Kura Oncology on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sagimet Biosciences

Sagimet Biosciences Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing medicines that target fatty acid synthase (FASN), an enzyme involved in the body’s production of fatty acids. The company is based in San Mateo, California. Its lead drug candidate, denifanstat (also known as TVB-2640), is an oral FASN inhibitor being developed for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver disease. The candidate has also been studied for other conditions. Sagimet is also developing TVB-3567, another FASN inhibitor being investigated as a potential treatment for acne.

About Kura Oncology

Kura Oncology is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing precision medicines for cancer. Its research has centered on therapies that target molecular pathways involved in tumor growth and blood cancers. The company’s best-known program is ziftomenib, an oral menin inhibitor developed for acute myeloid leukemia, including forms associated with NPM1 mutations or KMT2A rearrangements. Kura has also worked on other targeted cancer therapies. Based in San Diego, California, Kura conducts drug development and clinical research in the United States and has worked with international partners to advance its programs.