Reviewing Evaxion Biotech A/S (NASDAQ:EVAX) & Cortexyme (NASDAQ:CRTX)

Cortexyme (NASDAQ:CRTX) and Evaxion Biotech A/S (NASDAQ:EVAX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Cortexyme and Evaxion Biotech A/S, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cortexyme	0	0	0	0	0.00
Evaxion Biotech A/S	0	0	2	0	3.00

Evaxion Biotech A/S has a consensus target price of $11.00, suggesting a potential upside of 864.91%. Given Evaxion Biotech A/S’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Evaxion Biotech A/S is more favorable than Cortexyme.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cortexyme and Evaxion Biotech A/S”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cortexyme	N/A	N/A	-$89.94 million	($2.97)	-0.68
Evaxion Biotech A/S	$70,000.00	95.60	-$22.12 million	($0.29)	-3.93

Evaxion Biotech A/S has higher revenue and earnings than Cortexyme. Evaxion Biotech A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cortexyme, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Cortexyme and Evaxion Biotech A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cortexyme	N/A	-70.96%	-63.53%
Evaxion Biotech A/S	-347.83%	N/A	-79.40%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.2% of Cortexyme shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.0% of Evaxion Biotech A/S shares are owned by institutional investors. 27.9% of Cortexyme shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 41.6% of Evaxion Biotech A/S shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Cortexyme has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Evaxion Biotech A/S has a beta of -0.39, meaning that its stock price is 139% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Evaxion Biotech A/S beats Cortexyme on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cortexyme

Cortexyme, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapeutics for Alzheimer's and other degenerative diseases. Its lead drug candidate is atuzaginstat (COR388), an orally administered brain-penetrating small molecule gingipain inhibitor, which is in Phase II/III clinical trial for use in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, as well as for the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma, periodontitis, and coronavirus infection. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Evaxion Biotech A/S

Evaxion Biotech A/S, a clinical-stage biotech company, engages in developing artificial intelligence-powered immunotherapies. The company develops EVX-01, which is in phase 2 global multi-center clinical trial for the treatment of metastatic melanoma; EVX-02, a DNA-based vaccine that is in Phase 1/2a trial designed to induce a therapeutic immune response in the adjuvant setting in patients with resected melanoma; and EVX-03, DNA-based cancer vaccine for the treatment of various cancers. Its programs also include some vaccines that are in pre-clinical stage, which includes EVX-B1 for the prevention of S. aureus-induced skin and soft tissue infections in patients undergoing elective abdominal hernia surgery; EVX-B2 to target diseases caused by N. gonorrhoeae; EVX-B3 for eliciting strong humoral antibody and cellular immune response to the bacterial pathogen; and EVX-V1, viral vaccine product candidate for targeting Cytomegalovirus. Evaxion Biotech A/S was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Horsholm, Denmark.