ProKidney (NASDAQ:PROK) and Phio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHIO) Head to Head Survey

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

Risk & Volatility

ProKidney has a beta of 1.75, meaning that its stock price is 75% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Phio Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for ProKidney and Phio Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ProKidney	2	1	4	1	2.50
Phio Pharmaceuticals	1	0	1	0	2.00

ProKidney presently has a consensus price target of $7.40, indicating a potential upside of 309.97%. Phio Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,032.69%. Given Phio Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Phio Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than ProKidney.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares ProKidney and Phio Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ProKidney	$890,000.00	610.11	-$68.99 million	($0.52)	-3.47
Phio Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$8.70 million	($1.45)	-0.85

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

Profitability

This table compares ProKidney and Phio Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ProKidney	-7,725.20%	N/A	-18.83%
Phio Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-66.59%	-60.26%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

51.6% of ProKidney shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.3% of Phio Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 41.5% of ProKidney shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Phio Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

ProKidney beats Phio Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Phio Pharmaceuticals

Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. engages in the development of immuno-oncology therapeutics in the United States. The company is developing PH-762, an INTASYL compound in Phase 1b dose-escalating clinical trials to reduce the expression of cell death protein 1 (PD-1), a protein that inhibits T cells’ ability to kill cancer cells; and PH-762 treated double positive tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials to treat advanced melanoma and other advanced solid tumors. It is also developing PH-894, an INTASYL compound in IND enabling studies to silence BRD4, a protein that controls gene expression in both T cells and tumor cells, effecting the immune system and the tumor. The company was formerly known as RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. in November 2018. Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp. was incorporated in 2011 and is based in Marlborough, Massachusetts.