Critical Contrast: Ikena Oncology (NASDAQ:IKNA) & Kiromic BioPharma (NASDAQ:KRBP)

Ikena Oncology (NASDAQ:IKNA) and Kiromic BioPharma (NASDAQ:KRBP) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Ikena Oncology and Kiromic BioPharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ikena Oncology	N/A	-40.71%	-34.40%
Kiromic BioPharma	N/A	N/A	-188.53%

Risk & Volatility

Ikena Oncology has a beta of 0.48, suggesting that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kiromic BioPharma has a beta of 1.97, suggesting that its stock price is 97% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

75.0% of Ikena Oncology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.9% of Kiromic BioPharma shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Ikena Oncology shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.6% of Kiromic BioPharma 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ikena Oncology and Kiromic BioPharma”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ikena Oncology	$1.84 million	44.75	-$68.17 million	($1.58)	-1.08
Kiromic BioPharma	N/A	N/A	-$20.95 million	($9.90)	-0.14

Kiromic BioPharma has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ikena Oncology. Ikena Oncology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kiromic BioPharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Ikena Oncology and Kiromic BioPharma, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ikena Oncology	0	1	2	0	2.67
Kiromic BioPharma	0	0	0	0	N/A

Ikena Oncology presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 75.44%. Given Ikena Oncology’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ikena Oncology is more favorable than Kiromic BioPharma.

Summary

Ikena Oncology beats Kiromic BioPharma on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ikena Oncology

Ikena Oncology, Inc. operates as an oncology company that develops differentiated therapies for patients in need that target nodes of cancer growth, spread, and therapeutic resistance in the United States. Its lead program is IK-930, an internally discovered, oral, TEAD1-selective, small molecule inhibitor of the Hippo pathway. The company also develops IK-595, a molecular glue designed to trap MEK and RAF in an inactive complex. Ikena Oncology, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Kiromic BioPharma

Kiromic BioPharma, Inc., a clinical stage biotherapeutics company, utilizes engineered and non-engineered Gamma Delta T cell (GDT) technologies to develop therapies for solid tumors. The company develops Deltacel-01, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial, for patients with non-small cell lung cancer; Isocel in combination with low-dose radiation to treat Mesothelin Isoform 2 positive solid malignancies; ALEXIS-ISO-1, an allogeneic GDT therapy product that targets an isoform of mesothelin; Procel in combination with low-dose radiation to treat PD-L1 positive solid malignancies; and ALEXIS-PRO-1, an allogeneic GDT therapy product that targets PD-L1. It has a license agreement with Longwood University; and a research and development collaboration agreement with Molipharma, S.R.L. The company was formerly known as Kiromic, Inc. and changed its name to Kiromic BioPharma, Inc. in December 2019. Kiromic BioPharma, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.