Critical Review: NKGen Biotech (NKGN) & Its Rivals

NKGen Biotech (NYSE:NKGN) is one of 295 publicly-traded companies in the “Biological products, except diagnostic” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare NKGen Biotech to related companies based on the strength of its risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.2% of NKGen Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.5% of shares of all “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies are held by institutional investors. 74.7% of NKGen Biotech shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.9% of shares of all “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares NKGen Biotech and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NKGen Biotech	N/A	N/A	-479.36%
NKGen Biotech Competitors	-4,956.17%	-159.22%	-42.94%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares NKGen Biotech and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
NKGen Biotech	$80,000.00	-$82.94 million	-0.05
NKGen Biotech Competitors	$545.94 million	-$37.35 million	-21,663.86

NKGen Biotech’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than NKGen Biotech. NKGen Biotech is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for NKGen Biotech and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NKGen Biotech	0	0	0	0	N/A
NKGen Biotech Competitors	1698	4987	12974	252	2.59

As a group, “Biological products, except diagnostic” companies have a potential upside of 61.37%. Given NKGen Biotech’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe NKGen Biotech has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

NKGen Biotech has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NKGen Biotech’s peers have a beta of 1.13, suggesting that their average stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About NKGen Biotech

NKGen Biotech, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on the development and commercialization of autologous, allogeneic, and CAR-NK natural killer cell therapies. It develops SNK01, an autologous NK cell therapy; and SNK02, an allogeneic NK cell therapy, which are in Phase 1 clinical trials. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in Santa Ana, California.