Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD – Get Free Report) and Mersana Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MRSN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Opus Genetics and Mersana Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Opus Genetics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Mersana Therapeutics | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 |
Opus Genetics presently has a consensus target price of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 707.84%. Mersana Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 974.69%. Given Mersana Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mersana Therapeutics is more favorable than Opus Genetics.
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Opus Genetics | $8.38 million | 3.73 | -$9.99 million | ($1.09) | -0.91 |
| Mersana Therapeutics | $40.50 million | 1.15 | -$171.67 million | ($0.56) | -0.66 |
Opus Genetics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Mersana Therapeutics. Opus Genetics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mersana Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
15.0% of Opus Genetics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Mersana Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.6% of Opus Genetics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of Mersana Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Opus Genetics and Mersana Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Opus Genetics | -324.45% | -63.65% | -56.94% |
| Mersana Therapeutics | -214.20% | -401.37% | -38.61% |
Risk & Volatility
Opus Genetics has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its share price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mersana Therapeutics has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its share price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Mersana Therapeutics beats Opus Genetics on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Opus Genetics
Opus Genetics Inc. is a clinical-stage ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of unmet needs of patients with refractive and retinal eye disorders. Opus Genetics Inc., formerly known as Ocuphire Pharma Inc., is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
About Mersana Therapeutics
Mersana Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, develops antibody drug conjugates (ADC) for cancer patients with unmet needs. The company develops XMT-1660, a B7-H4-targeted Dolasynthen ADC candidate; and XMT-2056, an immunosynthen ADC. It has research and development collaborations with Janssen Biotech, Inc., Ares Trading S.A., Merck KGaA, and Asana BioSciences, LLC for the development of ADC product candidates. The company was formerly known as Nanopharma Corp. and changed its name to Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. in November 2005. Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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