Geron (NASDAQ:GERN – Get Free Report) and Purple Biotech (NASDAQ:PPBT – Get Free Report) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.
Volatility and Risk
Geron has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Purple Biotech has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Geron and Purple Biotech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Geron | -15,990.68% | -73.79% | -50.51% |
| Purple Biotech | N/A | -59.58% | -48.06% |
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Geron | $240,000.00 | 10,775.05 | -$184.13 million | ($0.36) | -11.92 |
| Purple Biotech | N/A | N/A | -$19.88 million | ($13.00) | -0.22 |
Purple Biotech has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Geron. Geron is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Purple Biotech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
73.7% of Geron shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.6% of Purple Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Geron shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Purple Biotech shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Geron and Purple Biotech, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Geron | 0 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3.00 |
| Purple Biotech | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Geron currently has a consensus target price of $7.05, indicating a potential upside of 64.34%. Purple Biotech has a consensus target price of $200.00, indicating a potential upside of 6,992.20%. Given Purple Biotech’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Purple Biotech is more favorable than Geron.
Summary
Purple Biotech beats Geron on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Geron
Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis. The company was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.
About Purple Biotech
Purple Biotech Ltd., a clinical-stage company, focuses on developing therapies to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance for cancer patients in the United States. Its oncology pipeline includes CM24, a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interactions of carcinoembryonic antigen related cell adhesion molecule 1 as a combination therapy with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; NT219, a small molecule that targets and inhibits insulin receptor substrate 1 and 2, and signal transducer and activator of transcription, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer or colorectal adenocarcinoma; and IM1240, a multi-valent antibody designed to activate anti-tumoral immune response against 5T4-positive tumors, which is in preclinical stage. The company has collaboration agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb Company to evaluate the combination of CM24 with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab in addition to chemotherapy. The company was formerly known as Kitov Pharma Ltd and changed its name to Purple Biotech Ltd. in December 2020. The company is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel.
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