Financial Analysis: Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF) vs. Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC)

Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC) and Zealand Pharma A/S (OTCMKTS:ZLDPF) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Cartesian Therapeutics and Zealand Pharma A/S, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cartesian Therapeutics	1	1	5	0	2.57
Zealand Pharma A/S	1	8	1	1	2.18

Cartesian Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $32.60, indicating a potential upside of 289.49%. Given Cartesian Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Cartesian Therapeutics is more favorable than Zealand Pharma A/S.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.0% of Cartesian Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.2% of Cartesian Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Cartesian Therapeutics has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zealand Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cartesian Therapeutics and Zealand Pharma A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cartesian Therapeutics	-8,550.65%	N/A	-29.84%
Zealand Pharma A/S	58.86%	18.53%	17.14%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cartesian Therapeutics and Zealand Pharma A/S”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cartesian Therapeutics	$2.80 million	90.43	-$130.30 million	($5.94)	-1.41
Zealand Pharma A/S	$1.40 billion	2.38	$977.29 million	$6.03	7.69

Zealand Pharma A/S has higher revenue and earnings than Cartesian Therapeutics. Cartesian Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zealand Pharma A/S, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Zealand Pharma A/S beats Cartesian Therapeutics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cartesian Therapeutics

Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the provision of mRNA cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. It develops Descartes-08, an autologous anti-BCMA RNA-engineered chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, currently under Phase 2b clinical development for generalized myasthenia gravis, as well as for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and myeloma autoimmune basket trials for other autoimmune diseases. The company develops Descartes-15 to treat Autoimmune diseases, myeloma; and Descartes-33 which is in preclinical development for treatment of autoimmune diseases. Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About Zealand Pharma A/S

Zealand Pharma A/S, a biotechnology company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of peptide-based medicines in Denmark. It has a portfolio of medicines focusing on gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases, and other specialty disease areas with unmet medical needs. The company offers Dasiglucagon, a single use syringe or autoinjector for the treatment of severe hypoglycemia; and Dasiglucagon bi-hormone artificial pancreas systems containing insulin and dasiglucagon. Its pipeline includes Dasiglucagon that is in Phase III clinical trials for treating congenital hyperinsulinism. The company is also developing glepaglutide, a long acting GLP-2 analog, which is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of short bowel syndrome. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is based in Søborg, Denmark.