Financial Review: Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) & Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD)

Kodiak Sciences (NASDAQ:KOD) and Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Kodiak Sciences and Cidara Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kodiak Sciences	1	2	1	0	2.00
Cidara Therapeutics	0	0	5	1	3.17

Kodiak Sciences currently has a consensus target price of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.71%. Cidara Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $32.20, suggesting a potential upside of 51.53%. Given Cidara Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cidara Therapeutics is more favorable than Kodiak Sciences.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.1% of Kodiak Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.8% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 45.3% of Kodiak Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.6% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Kodiak Sciences and Cidara Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kodiak Sciences	N/A	N/A	-$260.49 million	($3.65)	-2.09
Cidara Therapeutics	$63.90 million	2.34	-$22.93 million	($25.52)	-0.83

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

Volatility & Risk

Kodiak Sciences has a beta of 2.11, indicating that its share price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cidara Therapeutics has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kodiak Sciences and Cidara Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kodiak Sciences	N/A	-84.52%	-45.40%
Cidara Therapeutics	-289.05%	-69.64%	-33.73%

Summary

Cidara Therapeutics beats Kodiak Sciences on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kodiak Sciences

Kodiak Sciences Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat retinal diseases. Its lead product candidate is tarcocimab tedromer (KSI-301), an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor antibody biopolymer that is in Phase IIb/III clinical study to treat wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as well as Phase III clinical study for the treatment of diabetic macular edema, naïve macular edema due to retinal vein occlusion, and non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The company's preclinical stage product candidate includes KSI-501, a bispecific conjugate to treat retinal diseases with an inflammatory component; and KSI-601, a triplet biopolymer conjugate for the treatment of dry AMD. The company was formerly known as Oligasis, LLC and changed its name to Kodiak Sciences Inc. in September 2015. Kodiak Sciences Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Palo Alto, California.

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.