Critical Survey: Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) and CohBar (NASDAQ:CWBR)

CohBar (NASDAQ:CWBR) and Merus (NASDAQ:MRUS) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares CohBar and Merus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CohBar	N/A	-78.10%	-74.23%
Merus	-352.56%	-50.61%	-37.56%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

2.5% of CohBar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of Merus shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of CohBar shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of Merus shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CohBar and Merus’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CohBar	N/A	N/A	-$12.18 million	($4.36)	-0.23
Merus	$43.95 million	58.93	-$154.94 million	($3.04)	-14.72

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

Risk and Volatility

CohBar has a beta of 1.52, meaning that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merus has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CohBar and Merus, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CohBar	0	0	0	0	N/A
Merus	0	0	11	0	3.00

Merus has a consensus target price of $52.00, indicating a potential upside of 16.20%. Given Merus’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Merus is more favorable than CohBar.

Summary

Merus beats CohBar on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CohBar

CohBar, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, develops mitochondria and peptides based therapeutics for the treatment of chronic and age-related diseases. It develops CB4211, a therapeutic that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and obesity; and CB5138 Analogs, which is in preclinical study to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic diseases. CohBar, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Menlo Park, California.

About Merus

Merus N.V., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, engages in the development of antibody therapeutics in the Netherlands. Its bispecific antibody candidate pipeline includes Zenocutuzumab (MCLA-128), which is in a phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors that harbor Neuregulin 1. The company is also developing MCLA-158, which is in a phase I clinical trial for the treatment of solid tumors; MCLA-145, which is in phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors; MCLA-129, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors; and ONO-4685 that is Phase 1 clinical trial to treat relapsed/refractory T cell lymphoma. In addition, it has collaboration agreement with Betta Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd for the research and development of stage bispecific antibody candidates include MCLA-129; collaboration with Incyte Corporation for the development of MCLA-145; and collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc. to discover novel antibody-based trispecific T-cell engagers. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Utrecht, the Netherlands.