Comparing Tempest Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TPST) & Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX)

Tempest Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TPST) and Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Tempest Therapeutics and Nkarta’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tempest Therapeutics	N/A	-187.44%	-82.61%
Nkarta	N/A	-27.13%	-21.67%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Tempest Therapeutics and Nkarta”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Tempest Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$29.49 million	($1.53)	-0.53
Nkarta	N/A	N/A	-$117.50 million	($1.88)	-0.93

Nkarta is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Tempest Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Tempest Therapeutics and Nkarta, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tempest Therapeutics	0	0	4	0	3.00
Nkarta	0	0	5	2	3.29

Tempest Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $21.67, indicating a potential upside of 2,576.88%. Nkarta has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 757.14%. Given Tempest Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Tempest Therapeutics is more favorable than Nkarta.

Risk & Volatility

Tempest Therapeutics has a beta of -1.69, suggesting that its stock price is 269% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nkarta has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

22.5% of Tempest Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of Nkarta shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of Tempest Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Nkarta shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Nkarta beats Tempest Therapeutics on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Tempest Therapeutics

Tempest Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology company, develops small molecule therapeutics that combine both tumor-targeted and immune-mediated mechanisms to treat various tumors. The company's two clinical programs are TPST-1495, a dual antagonist of EP2 and EP4, receptors of prostaglandin E2, which is in a Phase 1 trial to treat cancer; and TPST-1120, a selective antagonist of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha that is in a Phase 1 trial for the treatment of solid tumors. It also develops TREX-1, an enzyme that regulates cGAS/STING pathway signaling and immune recognition. Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California. Tempest Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Inception Sciences, Inc.

About Nkarta

Nkarta, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes natural killer cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease treatment. The company's lead product candidate is NKX019, a chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer (CAR NK) targeting the CD19 antigen that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (r/r) non-hodgkin lymphoma, as well as for lupus nephritis. It also develops NKX101, a CAR NK product candidate targeting cells that display NKG2D ligands, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of r/r acute myeloid leukemia or higher risk myelodysplastic syndromes, as well as for solid tumors. In addition, the company develops NKX070, targeting the CD70 tumor antigen to treat solid and liquid tumors; and NK+T cell therapy for use in the treatment of oncology, autoimmune disease, or infectious disease. It has a research collaboration agreement with CRISPR Therapeutics AG. Nkarta, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in South San Francisco, California.