Financial Survey: HCW Biologics (NASDAQ:HCWB) versus CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON)

CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON) and HCW Biologics (NASDAQ:HCWB) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.6% of CG Oncology shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.0% of HCW Biologics shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.8% of CG Oncology shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.1% of HCW Biologics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

CG Oncology has a beta of 0.24, meaning that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HCW Biologics has a beta of 2.37, meaning that its share price is 137% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CG Oncology and HCW Biologics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CG Oncology	-3,602.68%	-25.20%	-23.98%
HCW Biologics	-83.03%	-262.33%	-34.90%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CG Oncology and HCW Biologics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CG Oncology	$4.04 million	1,638.30	-$160.99 million	($2.69)	-27.76
HCW Biologics	$50,000.00	108.19	-$7.96 million	($27.60)	-0.11

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for CG Oncology and HCW Biologics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CG Oncology	1	1	9	0	2.73
HCW Biologics	1	0	1	0	2.00

CG Oncology currently has a consensus price target of $87.78, suggesting a potential upside of 17.55%. HCW Biologics has a consensus price target of $30.00, suggesting a potential upside of 920.41%. Given HCW Biologics’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe HCW Biologics is more favorable than CG Oncology.

Summary

CG Oncology beats HCW Biologics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CG Oncology

CG Oncology, Inc., an oncolytic immunotherapy company, focuses on developing and commercializing backbone bladder-sparing therapeutics for patients with bladder cancer. The company develops BOND-003 for the treatment of high-risk bacillus calmette guerin (BCG)-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients; CORE-001 to treat cretostimogene in combination with pembrolizumab in high-risk BCG-unresponsive NMIBC patients; and CORE-002 for the treatment of cretostimogene in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab in muscle invasive bladder cancer patients. It also develops PIVOT-006, a cretostimogene monotherapy for intermediate-risk NMIBC following transurethral resection of the bladder tumor; and CORE-008 for treating patients with high-risk NMIBC, including BCG-exposed and BCG-naïve NMIBC patients. CG Oncology, Inc. was formerly known as Cold Genesys, Inc. and changed its name to CG Oncology, Inc. in June 2020. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in Irvine, California.

About HCW Biologics

HCW Biologics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing novel immunotherapies for chronic, low-grade inflammation, and age-related diseases in the United States. The company's lead products include HCW9218, which is in Phase 1 clinical chemo-refractory/chemo-resistant solid tumors with pancreatic, ovarian, breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers, as well as Phase 2 clinical trial with metastatic advanced stage ovarian cancer patients; and HCW9302 for autoimmune and proinflammatory diseases, such as alopecia areata diseases. It also develops HCW9201, a cell-based therapy that is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myelogenous leukemia; and HCW9206, an injectable immunotherapeutic to use as adjuvant for adoptive cell therapy in cancer treatment. HCW Biologics Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Miramar, Florida.