Reviewing Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) and Neoleukin Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NLTX)

Nuvation Bio (NYSE:NUVB) and Neoleukin Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NLTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Nuvation Bio and Neoleukin Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nuvation Bio	0	0	5	0	3.00
Neoleukin Therapeutics	0	0	0	0	N/A

Nuvation Bio currently has a consensus target price of $6.40, suggesting a potential upside of 178.87%. Given Nuvation Bio’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Nuvation Bio is more favorable than Neoleukin Therapeutics.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nuvation Bio and Neoleukin Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nuvation Bio	N/A	N/A	-$75.80 million	($2.11)	-1.09
Neoleukin Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$57.56 million	($3.11)	-15.50

Neoleukin Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nuvation Bio, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.7% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.4% of Neoleukin Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of Nuvation Bio shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Neoleukin Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Nuvation Bio and Neoleukin Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nuvation Bio	N/A	-16.57%	-13.93%
Neoleukin Therapeutics	N/A	-37.22%	-30.91%

Risk & Volatility

Nuvation Bio has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Neoleukin Therapeutics has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Nuvation Bio beats Neoleukin Therapeutics on 9 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Nuvation Bio

Nuvation Bio Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of therapeutic candidates for oncology. The company's lead product candidate is NUV-868, a BD2 selective oral small molecule BET inhibitor that epigenetically regulates proteins that control tumor growth and differentiation, including oncogenes comprising c-myc; NUV-1156, an AR binder Xtandi that address advanced stage prostate cancers with the potential to move into earlier lines typically treated with surgical prostatectomy; and drug-drug conjugate (DDC) platform which leverages a novel therapeutic approach within the drug-conjugate class of anti-cancer therapies to deliver anti-cancer therapeutics to cancer cells, as well as NUV-1176, a PARP inhibitor to address ER+ breast and ovarian cancer. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Neoleukin Therapeutics

Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops immunotherapies for cancer, inflammation, and autoimmunity disorders using protein design technology. The company's lead product candidate is NL-201, a de novo protein designed to mimic the therapeutic activity of the cytokines interleukin (IL)-2/IL-15 for the treatment of various types of cancer, including renal cell carcinoma and melanoma. The company was formerly known as Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. in August 2019. Neoleukin Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.