Head-To-Head Contrast: Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) and Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX)

Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) 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, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

35.8% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Cidara Therapeutics and Ginkgo Bioworks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cidara Therapeutics	-289.05%	-69.64%	-33.73%
Ginkgo Bioworks	-298.78%	-58.54%	-34.24%

Volatility and Risk

Cidara Therapeutics has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ginkgo Bioworks has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Cidara Therapeutics and Ginkgo Bioworks, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cidara Therapeutics	0	0	5	1	3.17
Ginkgo Bioworks	3	1	1	0	1.60

Cidara Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $32.20, indicating a potential upside of 56.84%. Ginkgo Bioworks has a consensus price target of $4.58, indicating a potential downside of 47.95%. Given Cidara Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Cidara Therapeutics is more favorable than Ginkgo Bioworks.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cidara Therapeutics and Ginkgo Bioworks”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cidara Therapeutics	$44.65 million	3.24	-$22.93 million	($25.52)	-0.80
Ginkgo Bioworks	$217.11 million	2.33	-$892.87 million	($13.08)	-0.67

Cidara Therapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ginkgo Bioworks. Cidara Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ginkgo Bioworks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Cidara Therapeutics beats Ginkgo Bioworks on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cidara Therapeutics

Cidara Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing targeted therapies for patients facing cancers and other serious diseases. The company's product includes rezafungin acetate, a novel molecule in the echinocandin class of antifungals for the treatment and prevention of invasive fungal infections, including candidemia and invasive candidiasis, which are fungal infections associated with high mortality rates. It also develops its Cloudbreak platform that enables development of novel drug-Fc conjugates, that includes CD388, a potent antiviral designed to deliver universal prevention and treatment of seasonal and pandemic influenza, which is in Phase 1 and Phase 2a clinical trials. The company was formerly known as K2 Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. in July 2014. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in San Diego, California.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops platform for cell programming in the United States. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. It serves pharma and biotech, agriculture, industrial and environment, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense industries. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.