Purple Biotech (NASDAQ:PPBT) and Sionna Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SION) Head to Head Contrast

Purple Biotech (NASDAQ:PPBT) and Sionna Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SION) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, dividends, risk and earnings.

Volatility and Risk

Purple Biotech has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sionna Therapeutics has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.6% of Purple Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Purple Biotech shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.9% of Sionna Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Purple Biotech and Sionna Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Purple Biotech	N/A	N/A	-$26.39 million	($18.84)	-0.19
Sionna Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$75.27 million	($1.93)	-19.52

Sionna Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Purple Biotech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Purple Biotech and Sionna Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Purple Biotech	N/A	-123.63%	-98.72%
Sionna Therapeutics	N/A	-27.31%	-25.88%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Purple Biotech and Sionna Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Purple Biotech	1	1	1	0	2.00
Sionna Therapeutics	2	0	7	3	2.92

Purple Biotech currently has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 754.70%. Sionna Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $53.22, suggesting a potential upside of 41.25%. Given Purple Biotech’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Purple Biotech is more favorable than Sionna Therapeutics.

Summary

Sionna Therapeutics beats Purple Biotech on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Purple Biotech

Purple Biotech Ltd., a clinical-stage company, focuses on developing therapies to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance for cancer patients in the United States. Its oncology pipeline includes CM24, a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interactions of carcinoembryonic antigen related cell adhesion molecule 1 as a combination therapy with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; NT219, a small molecule that targets and inhibits insulin receptor substrate 1 and 2, and signal transducer and activator of transcription, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer or colorectal adenocarcinoma; and IM1240, a multi-valent antibody designed to activate anti-tumoral immune response against 5T4-positive tumors, which is in preclinical stage. The company has collaboration agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb Company to evaluate the combination of CM24 with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab in addition to chemotherapy. The company was formerly known as Kitov Pharma Ltd and changed its name to Purple Biotech Ltd. in December 2020. The company is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel.

About Sionna Therapeutics

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company on a mission to revolutionize the current treatment paradigm for cystic fibrosis (“CF”) patients by developing novel medicines that normalize the function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (“CFTR”) protein to deliver clinically meaningful benefit to CF patients. Our goal is to deliver differentiated medicines for people living with CF that can restore their CFTR function to as close to normal as possible by directly stabilizing CFTR’s nucleotide-binding domain 1 (“NBD1”). Despite having long been identified as a critical component for proper CFTR function, NBD1 has been considered “undruggable,” and none of the currently approved CF therapies directly stabilizes NBD1. Worldwide revenue for approved CFTR modulators was approximately $10 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2029. Leveraging more than a decade of our co-founders’ research on NBD1, we are advancing a pipeline of small molecules engineered to correct the defects caused by the F508del genetic mutation, which resides in the NBD1 domain. Approximately 90% of people with CF carry at least one copy of the F508del genetic mutation. We believe stabilizing NBD1 is central to unlocking dramatic improvements in clinical outcomes and quality of life for CF patients. We have employed biophysical, cell-based and virtual screening campaigns and extensive use of structural biology to guide the optimization of novel small molecule NBD1 stabilizers. We are conducting ongoing Phase 1 trials of our two highly potent NBD1 stabilizers, SION-719 and SION-451, evaluating the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic (“PK”) profile of single and multiple ascending doses in healthy subjects. These trials are randomized (3:1 active:placebo), doubled-blinded, placebo-controlled and are being conducted in Australia. As of January 14, 2025, five single ascending dose (“SAD”) cohorts and three multiple ascending dose (“MAD”) cohorts of SION-719 have been completed, with over 60 healthy subjects dosed, and six SAD cohorts and three MAD cohorts of SION-451 have been completed, with over 70 healthy subjects dosed. Both SION-719 and SION-451 have been generally well tolerated based on interim Phase 1 clinical data as of the data cutoff date of January 14, 2025. We have established target exposure levels for SION-719 and SION-451 to potentially provide clinically meaningful benefit, if administered as part of a dual combination or as an add-on to the current standard of care (“SOC”), based on our preclinical cystic fibrosis human bronchial epithelial (“CFHBE”) model. In these trials, we have achieved the target concentrations for SION-719 and SION-451 with single and multiple doses. We plan to continue enrolling healthy subjects in additional MAD cohorts. We are also developing a portfolio of complementary CFTR modulators designed to work synergistically with our NBD1 stabilizers to improve CFTR function, as seen in preclinical models. In July 2024, we in-licensed three clinical-stage compounds from AbbVie Global Enterprises Ltd. (“AbbVie”) to expand our portfolio of combination product opportunities, including galicaftor (SION-2222), which targets CFTR’s transmembrane domain 1 (“TMD1”), and has completed Phase 2 clinical trials. In addition, we recently completed a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating SION-109, which targets CFTR’s intracellular loop 4 (“ICL4”) region. We plan to evaluate multiple NBD1 stabilizer candidates and complementary modulator candidates and select the most promising candidates to advance into later-stage development. Initially, we intend to evaluate the lead NBD1 stabilizer candidate in combination with the current standard of care, Trikafta, in a proof-of-concept trial. In parallel, we will determine the proprietary dual combination that we believe is optimal to advance into a later-stage clinical trial in CF patients. We were incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in August 2019 under the name Sling Therapeutics, Inc., and changed our name to Sionna Therapeutics, Inc. in July 2021. Our principal executive offices are located at 21 Hickory Drive, Suite 500, Waltham, MA. We have one subsidiary, Sionna Therapeutics Securities Corporation (f/k/a Sling Therapeutics Securities Corporation), formed in 2020 under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.