Critical Review: ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) versus Cortexyme (NASDAQ:CRTX)

Cortexyme (NASDAQ:CRTX) and ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

63.2% of Cortexyme shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are held by institutional investors. 27.9% of Cortexyme shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Cortexyme has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its stock price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cortexyme and ProKidney”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cortexyme	N/A	N/A	-$89.94 million	($2.97)	-0.63
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-$35.47 million	($0.55)	-3.38

ProKidney is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cortexyme, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Cortexyme and ProKidney, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cortexyme	0	0	0	0	0.00
ProKidney	0	3	2	0	2.40

ProKidney has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 141.94%. Given ProKidney’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ProKidney is more favorable than Cortexyme.

Profitability

This table compares Cortexyme and ProKidney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cortexyme	N/A	-70.96%	-63.53%
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-10.24%

Summary

ProKidney beats Cortexyme on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cortexyme

Cortexyme, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapeutics for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases. Its lead drug candidate is atuzaginstat (COR388), an orally administered brain-penetrating small molecule gingipain inhibitor, which is in Phase II/III clinical trial for use in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, as well as for the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma, periodontitis, and coronavirus infection. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

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.