Prime Medicine (NASDAQ:PRME – Get Free Report) and Applied Dna Sciences (NASDAQ:BNBX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations for Prime Medicine and Applied Dna Sciences, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Prime Medicine | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 2.90 |
| Applied Dna Sciences | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Prime Medicine currently has a consensus target price of $7.47, suggesting a potential upside of 150.75%. Given Prime Medicine’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Prime Medicine is more favorable than Applied Dna Sciences.
Risk and Volatility
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Prime Medicine and Applied Dna Sciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Prime Medicine | $4.07 million | 132.70 | -$201.14 million | ($1.06) | -2.81 |
| Applied Dna Sciences | $2.09 million | 0.41 | -$15.16 million | ($3.33) | -0.04 |
Applied Dna Sciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Prime Medicine. Prime Medicine is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Dna Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Prime Medicine and Applied Dna Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Prime Medicine | -4,613.11% | -188.27% | -59.11% |
| Applied Dna Sciences | -1,647.25% | -349.95% | -283.96% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
70.4% of Prime Medicine shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.2% of Applied Dna Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.0% of Prime Medicine shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of Applied Dna Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
Prime Medicine beats Applied Dna Sciences on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Prime Medicine
We are a biotechnology company committed to delivering a new class of differentiated one-time curative genetic therapies, Prime Editors, to address the widest spectrum of diseases by deploying our Prime Editing technology, which we believe is a versatile, precise, efficient and broad gene editing technology. Genetic mutations implicated in disease are diverse and can range from errors of a single base, known as point mutations, to errors that extend beyond a single base, such as insertions, deletions, duplications, or combinations thereof. We believe the ability to alter the human genome at the foundational level may confer the greatest therapeutic impact on human disease. Gene editing, including platforms such as Prime Editing, is a novel technology that is not yet clinically validated for human therapeutic use. Over the last decade, the field of genetic medicine has evolved tremendously, with groundbreaking advances in gene therapy, cell therapy, RNA therapy, and, more recently, gene editing. These technologies represent dramatic advancements for genetic therapies, but lack the versatility to precisely and efficiently correct the diverse range of mutations or DNA alterations implicated in disease. Prime Medicine was co-founded by a world-renowned leader in the field of gene editing, David Liu, Ph.D. Dr. Liu was joined as co-founder by Andrew Anzalone, M.D., Ph.D., who conceived of and developed Prime Editing technology. Drawn by the promise of Prime Editing’s ability to transform the field of gene editing, we have assembled a diverse team that has grown to more than 150 people as of September 30, 2022. There are no current plans for Dr. Liu to be an officer or director of our company following this offering. He is expected to continue to provide consulting services to us pursuant to a consulting agreement, which has a current term that runs through September 2025 and accommodates a previous commitment with respect to Beam Therapeutics Inc., which could result in or may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. He is also expected to retain his position and affiliation with the Broad Institute, Inc., Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Harvard University. On September 20, 2022, we achieved a major milestone as the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or the USPTO, issued U.S. Patent 11,447,770, or the ‘770 Patent, covering methods of using Prime Editors. The Broad Institute, Inc., or Broad Institute, prepared, filed and prosecuted the ‘770 Patent. While Broad Institute is the owner of the ‘770 Patent, it is exclusively licensed to us under the terms of the license agreement with Broad Institute. The ‘770 Patent is the first issued Prime Editing patent in our licensed patent portfolio and we believe it will be instrumental in protecting our Prime Editing platform and pipeline of gene editing programs. We believe our in-licensed and company-owned Prime Editing technology has transformative potential that could change the course of how disease is treated and overcome the challenges associated with current genetic therapies. We in-license our Prime Editing technology pursuant to a license agreement with Broad Institute. In addition, the license agreement grants us certain rights and licenses under certain patent rights Broad Institute owns or controls, including a license to the ‘770 Patent, which covers Prime Editing technology and expires in 2040. The licenses are limited to the field of prevention or treatment of human disease, and most licenses granted to us under the license agreement are further limited to the prevention or treatment of human disease by editing (including modifying or converting) or targeting DNA ex vivo, in vivo, or through xeno transplantation methods, which we refer to as the Prime Broad Field. We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in September 2019 under the name Prime Medicine, Inc. Our principal executive offices are located at 21 Erie Street, Cambridge, MA.
About Applied Dna Sciences
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. develops and markets DNA-based technology solutions for use in the nucleic acid-based in vitro diagnostics and preclinical nucleic-acid based drug development and manufacturing markets; and for supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting, and anti-theft technology purposes. The company’s supply chain security and product authentication solutions include SigNature molecular tags that provide forensic power and protection for various applications used to fortify brand protection efforts and strengthen supply chain security, as well as mark, track, and convict criminals; SigNify IF portable DNA readers and SigNify consumable reagent test kits that provide real-time authentication of molecular tags in the field; and CertainT, which indicates the use of tagging, testing, and tracking platforms and solutions enabling manufacturers, brands, and trade organizations to convey proof of their product claims. It also manufactures and sells COVID-19 PCR-based molecular diagnostic test kit under the LineaTM COVID-19 Assay Kit trademark; and COVID-19 diagnostic test kit to prevent virus spread within a community, school, or workplace under the safeCircle trademark. In addition, the company provides preclinical contract research and manufacturing services for the nucleic acid-based therapeutic markets; and contract research services to RNA based drug and biologic customers for preclinical studies. Further, it develops an invasive circulating tumor cell capture and identification technology that uses a patented functional assay to capture live invasive circulating tumor cell and associated lymphocytes. The company operates in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Datalink Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. in 2002. Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Stony Brook, New York.
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