Critical Survey: MeiraGTx (NASDAQ:MGTX) & Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS)

MeiraGTx (NASDAQ:MGTX) and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

67.5% of MeiraGTx shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 8.4% of MeiraGTx shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for MeiraGTx and Acumen Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MeiraGTx	0	0	2	0	3.00
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	0	0	2	1	3.33

MeiraGTx currently has a consensus price target of $23.50, suggesting a potential upside of 274.20%. Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $9.33, suggesting a potential upside of 373.77%. Given Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Acumen Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than MeiraGTx.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares MeiraGTx and Acumen Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MeiraGTx	$13.93 million	35.24	-$84.03 million	($1.21)	-5.19
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$52.37 million	($1.38)	-1.43

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

Profitability

This table compares MeiraGTx and Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MeiraGTx	-633.05%	-146.38%	-53.05%
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-32.99%	-27.99%

Risk and Volatility

MeiraGTx has a beta of 1.25, meaning that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a beta of -0.07, meaning that its share price is 107% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Acumen Pharmaceuticals beats MeiraGTx on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MeiraGTx

MeiraGTx Holdings plc, a clinical stage gene therapy company, focusing on developing treatments for patients with serious diseases. The company develops various therapies for ocular diseases, including inherited retinal diseases and large degenerative ocular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and xerostomia. Its programs in clinical development include Phase I/II clinical stage programs in achromatopsia, X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, and RPE65-deficiency; Phase I clinical trials for radiation-induced xerostomia; and Parkinson's program that has completed a Phase II trial. It has a research collaboration agreement with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the research, development, and commercialization of gene therapies for the treatment of inherited retinal disease. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in New York, New York.

About Acumen Pharmaceuticals

Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted therapies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The company focuses on advancing a targeted immunotherapy drug candidate sabirnetug (ACU193), a recombinant humanized immunoglobulin gamma 2 that completed Phase I clinical trial to target soluble amyloid-beta oligomers. The company has a license agreement with Lonza Sales AG to manufacture and commercialize sabirnetug; and a collaboration and license agreement with Halozyme, Inc. for the development of a subcutaneous formulation of sabirnetug. Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.