Critical Review: NKGen Biotech (NYSE:NKGN) vs. Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT)

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

Profitability

This table compares Vaxart and NKGen Biotech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vaxart	-431.61%	-110.46%	-62.78%
NKGen Biotech	N/A	N/A	-479.36%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

18.0% of Vaxart shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.2% of NKGen Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Vaxart shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.4% of NKGen Biotech shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vaxart and NKGen Biotech”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vaxart	$28.70 million	2.96	-$82.46 million	($0.34)	-1.10
NKGen Biotech	$80,000.00	94.17	-$82.94 million	($2.45)	-0.07

Vaxart has higher revenue and earnings than NKGen Biotech. Vaxart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NKGen Biotech, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Vaxart has a beta of 1.69, meaning that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NKGen Biotech has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Vaxart and NKGen Biotech, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vaxart	0	0	2	0	3.00
NKGen Biotech	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vaxart presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 705.37%. Given Vaxart’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Vaxart is more favorable than NKGen Biotech.

Summary

Vaxart beats NKGen Biotech on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About NKGen Biotech

NKGen Biotech, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage biotechnology company that focuses on the development and commercialization of autologous, allogeneic, and CAR-NK natural killer cell therapies. It develops SNK01, an autologous NK cell therapy; and SNK02, an allogeneic NK cell therapy, which are in Phase 1 clinical trials. The company was founded in 2017 and is based in Santa Ana, California.