Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) and Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) Critical Review

Caribou Biosciences (NASDAQ:CRBU) and Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Caribou Biosciences and Denali Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Caribou Biosciences	0	1	3	0	2.75
Denali Therapeutics	0	1	8	0	2.89

Caribou Biosciences currently has a consensus price target of $11.25, suggesting a potential upside of 554.07%. Denali Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $38.33, suggesting a potential upside of 51.82%. Given Caribou Biosciences’ higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Caribou Biosciences is more favorable than Denali Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Caribou Biosciences and Denali Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Caribou Biosciences	-372.78%	-34.76%	-29.58%
Denali Therapeutics	N/A	-33.63%	-30.66%

Risk and Volatility

Caribou Biosciences has a beta of 2.29, indicating that its share price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.4, indicating that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

77.5% of Caribou Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Caribou Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are held by 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Caribou Biosciences and Denali Therapeutics’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Caribou Biosciences	$33.11 million	4.69	-$102.07 million	($1.45)	-1.19
Denali Therapeutics	$1.27 million	2,842.05	-$145.22 million	($0.96)	-26.30

Caribou Biosciences has higher revenue and earnings than Denali Therapeutics. Denali Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Caribou Biosciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

About Caribou Biosciences

Caribou Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of genome-edited allogeneic cell therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies in the United States and internationally. Its lead product candidate is CB-010, an allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat relapsed or refractory B cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The company also develops CB-011, an allogeneic anti-BCMA CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; and CB-012, an allogeneic anti-CD371 CAR-T cell therapy that is in phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. Caribou Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Berkeley, California.

About Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson’s disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.