Analyzing Scopus BioPharma (NASDAQ:SCPS) and Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR)

Scopus BioPharma (NASDAQ:SCPS) and Kezar Life Sciences (NASDAQ:KZR) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Scopus BioPharma and Kezar Life Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Scopus BioPharma	0	0	0	0	0.00
Kezar Life Sciences	0	2	1	0	2.33

Kezar Life Sciences has a consensus price target of $39.50, suggesting a potential upside of 570.63%. Given Kezar Life Sciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Kezar Life Sciences is more favorable than Scopus BioPharma.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Scopus BioPharma and Kezar Life Sciences”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Scopus BioPharma	N/A	N/A	-$11.61 million	N/A	N/A
Kezar Life Sciences	$7.00 million	6.14	-$101.87 million	($13.18)	-0.45

Scopus BioPharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Kezar Life Sciences.

Volatility and Risk

Scopus BioPharma has a beta of -0.22, meaning that its share price is 122% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kezar Life Sciences has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.9% of Kezar Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. 5.1% of Scopus BioPharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of Kezar Life Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Scopus BioPharma and Kezar Life Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Scopus BioPharma	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kezar Life Sciences	N/A	-54.95%	-46.11%

Summary

Kezar Life Sciences beats Scopus BioPharma on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Scopus BioPharma

Scopus BioPharma Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing transformational therapeutics targeting serious diseases with unmet medical needs. It offers Duet Platform, which consists of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a master immune checkpoint inhibitor and toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), as well as includes CpG-STAT3ASO (DUET-02), CpG-STAT3siRNA (DUET-01), and CpG-STAT3decoy (DUET-03); and that develops a suite of bifunctional oligonucleotides that activate antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in the tumor microenvironment that alleviates tumor immunosuppression to jump-start T cell-mediated immune responses. The company is also developing DUET-01, as a monotherapy targeting B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma; DUET-02 that provides systemic delivery for treatment of solid tumors comprising prostate or kidney cancers; and DUET-03, which targets the actual STAT3 transcription factor protein. Scopus BioPharma Inc. has licensing agreements with the City of Hope, National Institutes of Health Program, and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The company was formerly known as Project18 Inc. and changed its name to Scopus BioPharma Inc. in December 2017. Scopus BioPharma Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Kezar Life Sciences

Kezar Life Sciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics to treat unmet needs in immune-mediated diseases and cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is zetomipzomib (KZR-616), a selective immunoproteasome inhibitor that is in Phase 2b clinical trials for various indications, including lupus nephritis, dermatomyositis, and polymyositis; Phase 1b clinical trials in systemic lupus erythematosus; and completed Phase 2a clinical trials in lupus nephritis. Its preclinical products include KZR-261, a novel first-in-class protein secretion inhibitor for the treatment of tumors resistant to traditional chemotherapeutics. Kezar Life Sciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.