Critical Survey: Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) versus ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK)

ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

ProKidney has a beta of 1.1, indicating that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ginkgo Bioworks has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ProKidney and Ginkgo Bioworks’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-$35.47 million	($0.57)	-4.09
Ginkgo Bioworks	$251.46 million	3.30	-$892.87 million	($0.44)	-0.85

ProKidney has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ginkgo Bioworks. ProKidney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ginkgo Bioworks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for ProKidney and Ginkgo Bioworks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ProKidney	0	2	2	0	2.50
Ginkgo Bioworks	3	2	1	0	1.67

ProKidney presently has a consensus target price of $7.25, indicating a potential upside of 211.16%. Ginkgo Bioworks has a consensus target price of $1.56, indicating a potential upside of 315.45%. Given Ginkgo Bioworks’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ginkgo Bioworks is more favorable than ProKidney.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

51.6% of ProKidney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by institutional investors. 41.5% of ProKidney shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.1% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares ProKidney and Ginkgo Bioworks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-8.09%
Ginkgo Bioworks	-409.11%	-56.09%	-35.89%

Summary

ProKidney beats Ginkgo Bioworks on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease. ProKidney Corp. founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops platform for cell programming in the United States. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. It serves pharma and biotech, agriculture, industrial and environment, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense industries. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.