Analyzing Candel Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CADL) and ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK)

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

Risk and Volatility

Candel Therapeutics has a beta of -0.95, meaning that its stock price is 195% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ProKidney has a beta of 1.52, meaning that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Candel Therapeutics and ProKidney’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Candel Therapeutics	N/A	-629.29%	-173.39%
ProKidney	N/A	N/A	-10.24%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Candel Therapeutics and ProKidney, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Candel Therapeutics	0	0	4	0	3.00
ProKidney	0	2	2	0	2.50

Candel Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 382.20%. ProKidney has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 900.00%. Given ProKidney’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ProKidney is more favorable than Candel Therapeutics.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Candel Therapeutics	$120,000.00	1,714.24	-$37.94 million	($1.75)	-2.49
ProKidney	$76,000.00	1,925.64	-$35.47 million	($0.63)	-0.79

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

13.9% of Candel Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.6% of ProKidney shares are owned by institutional investors. 41.6% of Candel Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.5% of ProKidney shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

ProKidney beats Candel Therapeutics on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Candel Therapeutics

Candel Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development immunotherapies for the cancer patients. It develops CAN-2409, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of pancreatic cancer; Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of prostate cancer; and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of lung cancer, as well as has completed Phase Ib/II clinical trials for the treatment of high-grade glioma. The company also develops CAN-3110, which is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of recurrent high-grade glioma. It also develops the?enLIGHTEN Discovery Platform, a systematic, iterative HSV-based discovery platform leveraging human biology and advanced analytics to create new viral immunotherapies for solid tumors. The company was formerly known as Advantagene, Inc. and changed its name to Candel Therapeutics, Inc. in November 2020. Candel Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Needham, Massachusetts.

About ProKidney

ProKidney Corp., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides transformative proprietary cell therapy platform for treating various chronic kidney diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Renal Autologous Cell Therapy (REACT), an autologous homologous cell admixture, which has completed Phase I clinical trial for REACT in patients with congenital anomalies of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT), as well as in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of moderate to severe diabetic kidney disease. ProKidney Corp. founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.