Comparing Black Diamond Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BDTX) and Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT)

Black Diamond Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BDTX) and Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Black Diamond Therapeutics and Vaxart”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Black Diamond Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$82.44 million	($1.50)	-2.17
Vaxart	$7.38 million	17.60	-$82.46 million	($0.46)	-1.59

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

Profitability

This table compares Black Diamond Therapeutics and Vaxart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Black Diamond Therapeutics	N/A	-69.08%	-51.68%
Vaxart	-543.21%	-114.19%	-75.68%

Risk & Volatility

Black Diamond Therapeutics has a beta of 2.51, meaning that its stock price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vaxart has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

95.5% of Black Diamond Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.1% of Vaxart shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Black Diamond Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Vaxart shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Black Diamond Therapeutics and Vaxart, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Black Diamond Therapeutics	0	0	4	0	3.00
Vaxart	0	0	2	0	3.00

Black Diamond Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 376.92%. Vaxart has a consensus target price of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 309.89%. Given Black Diamond Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Black Diamond Therapeutics is more favorable than Vaxart.

Summary

Black Diamond Therapeutics beats Vaxart on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Black Diamond Therapeutics

Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology medicine company, focuses on the discovery and development of MasterKey therapies for patients with genetically defined tumors. The company's lead product candidate is BDTX-1535, a brain-penetrant epidermal growth factor receptor MasterKey inhibitor, which is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor mutant non-small cell lung cancer, as well as phase 1 clinical trial to treat glioblastoma. It is also developing BDTX-4933, a brain-penetrant RAF MasterKey inhibitor targeting KRAS, NRAS, and BRAF alterations in solid tumors that is in phase 1 clinical trial. In addition, the company is developing BDTX-4876, a MasterKey inhibitor of oncogenic FGFR2/3 mutations with selectivity versus FGFR1/4, which is in preclinical stage. The company was formerly known as ASET Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2018. Black Diamond Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Vaxart

Vaxart, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops oral recombinant protein vaccines based on its proprietary oral vaccine platform. The company’s product pipeline includes norovirus vaccine, a bivalent oral tablet vaccine in Phase 2 clinical trial for the GI.1 and GII.4 norovirus strains; coronavirus vaccine, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial, for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection; seasonal influenza vaccine, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial, to treat H1 influenza infection; and human papillomavirus therapeutic vaccine, which is in preclinical stage, that targets HPV-16 and HPV-18 for cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions. It has a license agreement with Altesa Biosciences, Inc. to develop and commercialize Vapendavir, a capsid-binding broad-spectrum antiviral. Vaxart, Inc. is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.