Longeveron (NASDAQ:LGVN – Get Free Report) and Design Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DSGN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Longeveron and Design Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Longeveron | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Design Therapeutics | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2.17 |
Longeveron currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 601.75%. Design Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $6.60, indicating a potential upside of 104.33%. Given Longeveron’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Longeveron is more favorable than Design Therapeutics.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Longeveron | -2,129.24% | -300.96% | -164.96% |
| Design Therapeutics | N/A | -20.79% | -19.89% |
Institutional & Insider Ownership
10.0% of Longeveron shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.6% of Design Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 19.1% of Longeveron shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 31.2% of Design Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Longeveron and Design Therapeutics’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Longeveron | $710,000.00 | 15.29 | -$21.41 million | ($9.61) | -0.18 |
| Design Therapeutics | N/A | N/A | -$66.86 million | ($1.05) | -3.08 |
Longeveron has higher revenue and earnings than Design Therapeutics. Design Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Longeveron, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk
Longeveron has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Design Therapeutics has a beta of 1.87, suggesting that its share price is 87% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Design Therapeutics beats Longeveron on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Longeveron
Longeveron Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, develops cellular therapies for aging-related and life-threatening conditions in the United States and Japan. The company's lead investigational product is the LOMECEL-B, an allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell formulation sourced from the bone marrow of young and healthy adult donors. It is conducting Phase 1, Phase 1/2, Phase 2a, and Phase 2b clinical trials in various indications, such as aging-related frailty, alzheimer's disease, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome. The company was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
About Design Therapeutics
Design Therapeutics, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company, researches, designs, develops, and commercializes small molecule therapeutic drugs for the treatment of genetic diseases in the United States. The company utilizes its GeneTAC platform to design and develop therapeutic candidates for inherited diseases caused by nucleotide repeat expansion. Its lead product candidates for potentially disease-modifying treatment comprises Friedreich Ataxia, a monogenic, autosomal recessive, progressive multi-system disease that affects organ systems dependent on mitochondrial function that brings to neurological, cardiac, and metabolic dysfunction; Myotonic Dystrophy Type-1, a dominantly-inherited, monogenic progressive neuromuscular disease affecting skeletal muscle, heart, brain, and other organs; Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy, a genetic eye disease characterized by bilateral degeneration of corneal endothelial cells and progressive loss of vision; and Huntington's Disease, a dominantly inherited, monogenic neurodegenerative disease characterized by movement, cognitive, and psychiatric disorders. Design Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.
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