Analyzing Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) & BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) and Zenas BioPharma (NASDAQ:ZBIO) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zenas BioPharma has a beta of -0.9, indicating that its stock price is 190% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

85.9% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Zenas BioPharma shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	1	4	6	0	2.45
Zenas BioPharma	1	2	6	0	2.56

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $19.44, indicating a potential upside of 135.98%. Zenas BioPharma has a consensus price target of $46.71, indicating a potential upside of 69.13%. Given BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Zenas BioPharma.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	$874.84 million	2.41	$263.86 million	($1.50)	-5.49
Zenas BioPharma	$10.00 million	180.03	-$377.74 million	($8.99)	-3.07

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Zenas BioPharma. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zenas BioPharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Zenas BioPharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals	-40.90%	-86.89%	66.37%
Zenas BioPharma	N/A	-122.45%	-58.04%

Summary

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals beats Zenas BioPharma on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat rare diseases. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema. It is also developing BCX10013, an oral factor D inhibitor for complement-mediated diseases. The company has collaborations and in-license relationships with the Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Seqirus UK Limited; Shionogi & Co., Ltd.; Green Cross Corporation; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Industrial Research, Ltd. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

About Zenas BioPharma

Zenas BioPharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage global biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and commercialization of transformative immunology-based therapies for patients. The company was founded by Lonnie O. Moulder Jr on November 12, 2019 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.