Head-To-Head Contrast: Cue Biopharma (NASDAQ:CUE) & FibroGen (NASDAQ:FGEN)

FibroGen (NASDAQ:FGEN) and Cue Biopharma (NASDAQ:CUE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares FibroGen and Cue Biopharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FibroGen	-67.66%	N/A	-36.17%
Cue Biopharma	-468.02%	-156.38%	-88.07%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares FibroGen and Cue Biopharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FibroGen	$180.02 million	0.30	-$284.23 million	($1.23)	-0.43
Cue Biopharma	$9.53 million	7.24	-$50.73 million	($0.90)	-1.21

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

Risk & Volatility

FibroGen has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cue Biopharma has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.7% of FibroGen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.0% of Cue Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of FibroGen shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.3% of Cue Biopharma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for FibroGen and Cue Biopharma, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FibroGen	0	1	0	1	3.00
Cue Biopharma	0	0	5	0	3.00

Cue Biopharma has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 358.72%. Given Cue Biopharma’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cue Biopharma is more favorable than FibroGen.

About FibroGen

FibroGen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat serious unmet medical needs. Its lead product candidates are Pamrevlumab, a human monoclonal antibody targeting connective tissue growth factor that is in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer; and Roxadustat, an oral small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase activity, which has completed Phase III clinical development for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease in China, Europe, Japan, and other countries, as well as in Phase III clinical development for anemia related with myelodysplastic syndromes. The company has collaboration agreements with Astellas Pharma Inc. and AstraZeneca AB. FibroGen, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Cue Biopharma

Cue Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops a novel class of injectable therapeutics to selectively engage and modulate targeted, disease relevant T cells directly within the patient's body. Its lead drug product candidate is CUE-101 for the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV16+)-driven recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer. The company is also developing CUE-102 targets Wilms' Tumor 1 protein in various cancers; CUE-103, a CUE-100 series drug product candidate; and Neo-STAT and RDI-STAT programs outside of oncology, including CUE-200, CUE-300, and CUE-400 series. It has collaboration agreements with LG Chem, Ltd. for the development of Immuno-STATs focused in the field of oncology; strategic collaboration and option agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to advance CUE-401 for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and license agreement with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The company was formerly known as Imagen Biopharma, Inc. and changed its name to Cue Biopharma, Inc. in October 2016. Cue Biopharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.