Reviewing LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) & CARGO Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRGX)

CARGO Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRGX) and LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CARGO Therapeutics and LENZ Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CARGO Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$98.15 million	($4.26)	-0.99
LENZ Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$124.65 million	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for CARGO Therapeutics and LENZ Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CARGO Therapeutics	1	6	0	0	1.86
LENZ Therapeutics	0	0	7	1	3.13

CARGO Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 255.87%. LENZ Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $39.50, indicating a potential upside of 57.56%. Given CARGO Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe CARGO Therapeutics is more favorable than LENZ Therapeutics.

Volatility and Risk

CARGO Therapeutics has a beta of 1.65, indicating that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LENZ Therapeutics has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CARGO Therapeutics and LENZ Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CARGO Therapeutics	N/A	-38.16%	-33.94%
LENZ Therapeutics	N/A	-58.48%	-55.50%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.2% of CARGO Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.3% of LENZ Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of CARGO Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 38.4% of LENZ Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

CARGO Therapeutics beats LENZ Therapeutics on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CARGO Therapeutics

CARGO Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer patients. The company's lead program is CRG-022, an autologous CD22 CAR T-cell product candidate designed to address resistance mechanisms by targeting CD22, an alternate tumor antigen that is expressed in B-cell malignancies. It also develops CRG-023, a tri-specific CAR T product candidate that targets tumor cells with three B-cell antigen targets. The company was formerly known as Syncopation Life Sciences, Inc. and changed its name to CARGO Therapeutics, Inc. in September 2022. CARGO Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

About LENZ Therapeutics

LENZ Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to improve vision in the United States. Its product candidates include LNZ100 and LNZ101 which are in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of presbyopia. The company is headquartered in Del Mar, California.