Critical Comparison: ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) and Adaptimmune Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ADAP)

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

Risk & Volatility

Adaptimmune Therapeutics has a beta of 2.42, indicating that its share price is 142% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.31, indicating that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Adaptimmune Therapeutics and ProKidney”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adaptimmune Therapeutics	$175.04 million	0.79	-$113.87 million	($0.22)	-2.45
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-$35.47 million	($0.55)	-2.24

ProKidney has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Adaptimmune Therapeutics. Adaptimmune Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than ProKidney, 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 Adaptimmune Therapeutics and ProKidney, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adaptimmune Therapeutics	0	0	4	0	3.00
ProKidney	0	3	2	0	2.40

Adaptimmune Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $2.79, indicating a potential upside of 416.20%. ProKidney has a consensus target price of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 265.85%. Given Adaptimmune Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Adaptimmune Therapeutics is more favorable than ProKidney.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

31.4% of Adaptimmune Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.4% of Adaptimmune Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adaptimmune Therapeutics	-25.43%	-74.15%	-15.09%
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-10.24%

Summary

ProKidney beats Adaptimmune Therapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adaptimmune Therapeutics

Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, provides novel cell therapies primarily to cancer patients in the United States and the United Kingdom. It develops SPEARHEAD-1 that is in phase II clinical trials with ADP-A2M4 for synovial sarcoma; SURPASS-3 that is in phase II clinical trial with ADP-A2M4CD8 for people with platinum resistant ovarian cancer; and SURPASS that is in phase I clinical trials in patients with head and neck, and urothelial cancers. The company has strategic collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, Inc. and F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd to develop personalized allogeneic and allogeneic T-cell therapies; research, collaboration, and license agreement with Universal Cells, Inc.; third-party collaborations with Noile-Immune and Alpine Immune Sciences; and strategic alliance agreement with the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Abingdon, the United Kingdom.

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.