Reviewing Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) and VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT)

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) and VectivBio (NASDAQ:VECT) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Aura Biosciences and VectivBio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aura Biosciences	N/A	-41.32%	-35.47%
VectivBio	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aura Biosciences and VectivBio’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aura Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$58.76 million	($2.00)	-4.74
VectivBio	$27.34 million	N/A	-$93.74 million	N/A	N/A

Aura Biosciences has higher earnings, but lower revenue than VectivBio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Aura Biosciences and VectivBio, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aura Biosciences	0	0	2	0	3.00
VectivBio	0	2	3	0	2.60

Aura Biosciences currently has a consensus target price of $23.50, indicating a potential upside of 147.89%. VectivBio has a consensus target price of $24.33, indicating a potential upside of 44.41%. Given Aura Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Aura Biosciences is more favorable than VectivBio.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Aura Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Aura Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of VectivBio shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.19, meaning that its share price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, VectivBio has a beta of 0.1, meaning that its share price is 90% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc. operates as a biotechnology company that develops therapies to treat cancer. The company develops virus-like drug conjugates (VDC) technology platform for treating tumors of high unmet need in ocular and urologic oncology. It is developing AU-011, a VDC candidate for the treatment of primary choroidal melanoma that is in phase III clinical trial. The company also develops AU-011 for additional ocular oncology indications, including choroidal metastases and is in Phase 2 dose-escalation trial. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About VectivBio

VectivBio Holding AG, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of medicines for treatments of severe rare conditions. It develops apraglutide, a long-acting synthetic peptide analog of glucagon-like peptide-2 that is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of patients with short bowel syndrome-intestinal failure (SBS-IF), as well as apraglutide is in Phase II clinical trial for SBS-IF in patients with colon-in-continuity anatomy. The company is also developing apraglutide, which is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with steroid-refractory gastrointestinal acute versus host disease (aGvHD). VectivBio Holding AG was incorporated in 2019 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland. As of June 29, 2023, VectivBio Holding AG operates as a subsidiary of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc.