Critical Survey: Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) versus Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR)

Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) and Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Kezar Life Sciences and Lifecore Biomedical, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kezar Life Sciences	2	4	0	0	1.67
Lifecore Biomedical	1	2	2	0	2.20

Kezar Life Sciences presently has a consensus target price of $6.00, suggesting a potential downside of 19.46%. Lifecore Biomedical has a consensus target price of $5.50, suggesting a potential upside of 45.12%. Given Lifecore Biomedical’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lifecore Biomedical is more favorable than Kezar Life Sciences.

Profitability

This table compares Kezar Life Sciences and Lifecore Biomedical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kezar Life Sciences	N/A	-62.53%	-51.77%
Lifecore Biomedical	-23.08%	-1,211.09%	-9.69%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.9% of Kezar Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are held by institutional investors. 10.4% of Kezar Life Sciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.0% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kezar Life Sciences and Lifecore Biomedical”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kezar Life Sciences	N/A	N/A	-$83.74 million	($8.44)	-0.88
Lifecore Biomedical	$128.87 million	1.10	-$36.73 million	($0.98)	-3.87

Lifecore Biomedical has higher revenue and earnings than Kezar Life Sciences. Lifecore Biomedical is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kezar Life Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Kezar Life Sciences has a beta of 0.53, indicating that its share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lifecore Biomedical has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Lifecore Biomedical beats Kezar Life Sciences on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kezar Life Sciences

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases and cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is zetomipzomib (KZR-616), a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for various indications, including lupus nephritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis; Phase 1b clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus; and completed Phase 2a clinical trials in lupus nephritis. Its preclinical products include KZR-261, a novel first-in-class protein secretion inhibitor for the treatment of tumors resistant to traditional chemotherapeutics. Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Lifecore Biomedical

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate (HA) in bulk form, as well as formulated and filled syringes and vials for injectable products used in treating a range of medical conditions and procedures. It also provides services, such as technology development, material component changes, analytical method development, formulation development, pilot studies, stability studies, process validation, and production of materials for clinical studies to its partners for HA-based and non-HA based aseptically formulated and filled products. The company was formerly known as Landec Corporation and changed its name to Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. in November 2022. Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Chaska, Minnesota.