Bolt Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:BOLT – Get Free Report) and Septerna (NASDAQ:SEPN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.
Profitability
This table compares Bolt Biotherapeutics and Septerna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Bolt Biotherapeutics | -611.47% | -126.23% | -54.70% |
| Septerna | -24.51% | -9.57% | -6.28% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
86.7% of Bolt Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 9.4% of Bolt Biotherapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.8% of Septerna shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Risk and Volatility
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Bolt Biotherapeutics and Septerna, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Bolt Biotherapeutics | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2.25 |
| Septerna | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2.82 |
Bolt Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $14.50, indicating a potential upside of 238.79%. Septerna has a consensus price target of $52.44, indicating a potential upside of 44.00%. Given Bolt Biotherapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Bolt Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Septerna.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Bolt Biotherapeutics and Septerna”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Bolt Biotherapeutics | $7.70 million | 1.07 | -$33.38 million | ($16.44) | -0.26 |
| Septerna | $45.95 million | 37.00 | -$48.88 million | ($0.54) | -67.44 |
Bolt Biotherapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Septerna. Septerna is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bolt Biotherapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Septerna beats Bolt Biotherapeutics on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Bolt Biotherapeutics
Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. The company’s lead product candidate BDC-1001, which is in clinical development for the treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2- positive solid tumors, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, and gastroesophageal cancer. It is also developing BDC-3042, an agonist antibody targeting Dectin-2 for range of tumors, such as head and neck, non-small cell lung, ovarian, triple-negative breast, and other cancer. The company has collaboration agreements with Toray Industries, Genmab A/S, Innovent Biologics, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd; and license agreement with Stanford University. The company was formerly known as Bolt Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. in July 2015. Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.
About Septerna
We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new era of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) oral small molecule drug discovery powered by our proprietary Native Complex Platform™. Our industrial-scale platform aims to unlock the full potential of GPCR therapies and has led to the discovery and development of our deep pipeline of product candidates focused initially on treating patients in three therapeutic areas: endocrinology, immunology and inflammation, and metabolic diseases. GPCRs are the largest and most diverse family of cell membrane receptors and regulate physiological processes in nearly every organ system of the human body. Due to their significant role in human diseases, GPCRs have been the most productive target class in drug discovery history, accounting for approximately one-third of all U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs, representing approximately 500 products with combined global revenue of approximately $125 billion in 2023. Despite the pharmacological and commercial success of GPCR-targeted agents, about 75% of potential GPCR therapeutic targets remain undrugged and, for certain validated GPCRs, novel binding pockets may exist that could offer enhanced therapeutic benefits. Each step in GPCR activation involves subtle conformational changes that have been historically challenging to reproduce outside of a cell. The inability to isolate GPCR proteins in their native functional form outside of a cellular context has prevented scientists from leveraging some of the state-of-the-art technologies that have revolutionized drug discovery in other major target classes over the past decade. This complex challenge has limited GPCR drug discovery, particularly the development of novel oral small molecules, such as agonists (which activate GPCR signaling) for peptide GPCRs and allosteric modulators (which either increase or decrease the degree of GPCR activation by endogenous ligands). Our proprietary Native Complex Platform™ replicates the natural structure, function, and dynamics of GPCRs outside of cells at an industrial scale for, as we believe it, the first time. Our foundational technologies enable us to isolate, purify, and reconstitute full-length, properly folded GPCR proteins within ternary complexes with ligands and transducer proteins in a lipid bilayer that mimics the cell membrane. We then apply state-of-the-art discovery tools and technologies to these defined and tunable protein complexes to structurally design, screen for, and optimize potential product candidates. Leveraging our platform, we conduct GPCR oral small molecule drug discovery using an industrialized and iterative structure-based drug design approach for a diverse collection of GPCR targets. Our Native Complex PlatformTM is designed to enable us to target specific GPCRs, uncover novel binding pockets for validated receptors, and pursue a wide spectrum of pharmacologies, including agonists, antagonists (which inhibit GPCR signaling), and allosteric modulators, to affect GPCR signaling in different ways to achieve desired therapeutic effects. We are advancing a deep portfolio of oral small molecule GPCR-targeted programs with novel mechanistic approaches to treat diseases across multiple therapeutic areas for patients with significant unmet needs. Our wholly-owned pipeline, is focused initially on three therapeutic areas: endocrinology, immunology and inflammation, and metabolic diseases. We intend to evaluate opportunities in other major therapeutic areas, such as neurology, women’s health, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease. — Leveraging our team, scientific and technical advisors, and our proprietary Native Complex Platform™, we aim to be a leader in the development of oral GPCR-targeted medicines for patients with significant unmet needs. We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in December 2019 under the name GPCR NewCo, Inc. and changed our name to Septerna, Inc. in June 2021. Our principal executive offices are located at 250 East Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, California.
Receive News & Ratings for Bolt Biotherapeutics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bolt Biotherapeutics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
