Cue Biopharma (NASDAQ:CUE – Get Free Report) and HCW Biologics (NASDAQ:HCWB – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
35.0% of Cue Biopharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.0% of HCW Biologics shares are held by institutional investors. 14.6% of Cue Biopharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.1% of HCW Biologics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Cue Biopharma and HCW Biologics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cue Biopharma | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2.33 |
| HCW Biologics | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Cue Biopharma currently has a consensus target price of $83.00, suggesting a potential upside of 344.80%. HCW Biologics has a consensus target price of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2,464.10%. Given HCW Biologics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe HCW Biologics is more favorable than Cue Biopharma.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Cue Biopharma and HCW Biologics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cue Biopharma | $27.47 million | 4.93 | -$26.60 million | ($27.02) | -0.69 |
| HCW Biologics | $6.72 million | 0.39 | -$7.96 million | ($27.60) | -0.04 |
HCW Biologics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cue Biopharma. Cue Biopharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HCW Biologics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Cue Biopharma and HCW Biologics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cue Biopharma | -435.83% | -620.06% | -291.15% |
| HCW Biologics | -83.03% | -262.33% | -34.90% |
Risk & Volatility
Cue Biopharma has a beta of 2.62, suggesting that its stock price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCW Biologics has a beta of 2.41, suggesting that its stock price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Cue Biopharma beats HCW Biologics on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Cue Biopharma
Cue Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops a novel class of injectable therapeutics to selectively engage and modulate targeted, disease relevant T cells directly within the patient's body. Its lead drug product candidate is CUE-101 for the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV16+)-driven recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer. The company is also developing CUE-102 targets Wilms' Tumor 1 protein in various cancers; CUE-103, a CUE-100 series drug product candidate; and Neo-STAT and RDI-STAT programs outside of oncology, including CUE-200, CUE-300, and CUE-400 series. It has collaboration agreements with LG Chem, Ltd. for the development of Immuno-STATs focused in the field of oncology; strategic collaboration and option agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to advance CUE-401 for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and license agreement with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The company was formerly known as Imagen Biopharma, Inc. and changed its name to Cue Biopharma, Inc. in October 2016. Cue Biopharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About HCW Biologics
HCW Biologics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing novel immunotherapies for chronic, low-grade inflammation, and age-related diseases in the United States. The company's lead products include HCW9218, which is in Phase 1 clinical chemo-refractory/chemo-resistant solid tumors with pancreatic, ovarian, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers, as well as Phase 2 clinical trial with metastatic advanced stage ovarian cancer patients; and HCW9302 for autoimmune and proinflammatory diseases, such as alopecia areata diseases. It also develops HCW9201, a cell-based therapy that is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia; and HCW9206, an injectable immunotherapeutic to use as adjuvant for adoptive cell therapy in cancer treatment. HCW Biologics Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Miramar, Florida.
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