Critical Analysis: Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) and enVVeno Medical (NASDAQ:NVNO)

Cerus (NASDAQ:CERS) and enVVeno Medical (NASDAQ:NVNO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Cerus has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, enVVeno Medical has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.4% of Cerus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.7% of enVVeno Medical shares are held by institutional investors. 3.4% of Cerus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of enVVeno Medical 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.

Profitability

This table compares Cerus and enVVeno Medical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cerus	-11.19%	-37.90%	-10.35%
enVVeno Medical	N/A	-48.72%	-45.96%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cerus and enVVeno Medical”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cerus	$156.37 million	2.16	-$37.49 million	($0.11)	-16.55
enVVeno Medical	N/A	N/A	-$23.52 million	($1.29)	-2.47

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Cerus and enVVeno Medical, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cerus	0	1	3	0	2.75
enVVeno Medical	0	0	0	0	0.00

Cerus presently has a consensus price target of $3.63, indicating a potential upside of 99.18%. Given Cerus’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cerus is more favorable than enVVeno Medical.

Summary

Cerus beats enVVeno Medical on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cerus

Cerus Corporation operates as a biomedical products company. The company focuses on developing and commercializing the INTERCEPT Blood System to enhance blood safety. Its INTERCEPT Blood System, a proprietary technology for controlling biological replication that is designed to reduce blood-borne pathogens in donated blood components intended for transfusion. The company offers INTERCEPT Blood Systems for platelets and plasma, which is designed to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in platelets and plasma donated for transfusion; INTERCEPT Blood System for red blood cells to inactivate blood-borne pathogens in red blood cells donated for transfusion; and INTERCEPT Blood System for Cryoprecipitation that uses its plasma system to produce pathogen reduced cryoprecipitated fibrinogen complex for the treatment and control of bleeding, including massive hemorrhage associated with fibrinogen deficiency, as well as pathogen reduced plasma, cryoprecipitate reduced. It sells platelet and plasma systems through its direct sales force and distributors in the United States, Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Middle East, Latin America, and internationally. Cerus Corporation was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Concord, California.

About enVVeno Medical

enVVeno Medical Corporation (Nasdaq: NVNO) is an medical device company focused on the development of innovative bioprosthetic (tissue-based) devices to improve the standard of care in the treatment of venous disease. The company’s lead product, the VenoValve®?, is a first-in-class, surgical implant being developed for the treatment of severe deep venous Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI). Deep venous CVI occurs when valves inside of the deep veins of the leg become damaged, resulting in insufficient blood being returned to the heart. The malfunctioning vein valves cause blood to flow backwards (reflux) and pool in the lower leg, increasing the pressure within the veins of the leg (venous hypertension). In the most severe cases, CVI can lead to venous ulcers (open skin sores) that become chronic and difficult to heal. The VenoValve is implanted in the femoral vein and works as a replacement venous valve, designed to reduce reflux and venous hypertension, and to restore proper directional blood flow back to the heart. With severe deep venous CVI impacting an estimated 2.4 million people in the U.S., who have no effective treatment options, the VenoValve has received Breakthrough Device Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and is currently being evaluated in the SAVVE U.S. clinical trial.