RenovoRx (NASDAQ:RNXT) and Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) Financial Comparison

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verve Therapeutics	0	2	6	0	2.75
RenovoRx	0	1	2	0	2.67

Verve Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 396.99%. RenovoRx has a consensus target price of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 626.50%. Given RenovoRx’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe RenovoRx is more favorable than Verve Therapeutics.

Volatility & Risk

Verve Therapeutics has a beta of 1.7, meaning that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RenovoRx has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verve Therapeutics	-1,701.70%	-39.33%	-30.92%
RenovoRx	N/A	-2,860.14%	-261.49%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verve Therapeutics	$11.76 million	47.21	-$200.07 million	($3.12)	-2.13
RenovoRx	N/A	N/A	-$10.23 million	($1.01)	-1.16

RenovoRx has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Verve Therapeutics. Verve Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RenovoRx, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.1% of Verve Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.1% of RenovoRx shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.4% of Verve Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of RenovoRx shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Verve Therapeutics beats RenovoRx on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Verve Therapeutics

Verve Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage genetic medicines company, engages in developing gene editing medicines for patients to treat cardiovascular diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver; and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene for the treatment of HeFH. It engages in the development of ANGPTL3 program to permanently turn off the ANGPTL3 gene in the liver. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Beam Therapeutics Inc.; a development and option agreement with Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.; and a Cas9 license agreement with The Broad Institute and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The company was formerly known as Endcadia, Inc. and changed its name to Verve Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2019. Verve Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About RenovoRx

RenovoRx, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for the treatment of solid tumors. Its lead product candidate is RenovoGem, a drug and device combination consisting of intra-arterial gemcitabine and RenovoCath that is in Phase III clinical trials for the locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The company has a research collaboration with Imugene Limited to deliver oncolytic virus therapy for the treatment of difficult-to-access tumors. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Altos, California.