Critical Review: Sernova (OTCMKTS:SEOVF) & Imunon (NASDAQ:IMNN)

Imunon (NASDAQ:IMNN) and Sernova (OTCMKTS:SEOVF) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

4.5% of Imunon shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.0% of Imunon shares are owned by company 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 breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Imunon and Sernova, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Imunon	0	0	2	1	3.33
Sernova	0	1	0	0	2.00

Imunon presently has a consensus price target of $20.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2,294.86%. Sernova has a consensus price target of $1.50, suggesting a potential upside of 800.09%. Given Imunon’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Imunon is more favorable than Sernova.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Imunon and Sernova”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Imunon	$500,000.00	24.82	-$19.51 million	($1.89)	-0.45
Sernova	N/A	N/A	-$28.91 million	($0.08)	-2.08

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

Risk and Volatility

Imunon has a beta of 2.14, meaning that its stock price is 114% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sernova has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Imunon and Sernova’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Imunon	N/A	-230.05%	-128.98%
Sernova	N/A	-479.95%	-259.07%

Summary

Imunon beats Sernova on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Imunon

Imunon, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the development of immunotherapies and vaccines to treat cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s lead clinical program IMNN-001, a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of ovarian cancer that is in Phase II clinical development. Its preclinical stage products include IMNN-101, a COVID-19 booster vaccine; IMNN-102 for the treatment of Lassa virus; and IMNN-201, a Trp2 tumor associated antigen cancer vaccine in melanoma. In addition, the company develops non-viral DNA technology across four modalities, such as TheraPlas for the coding of proteins and cytokines in the treatment of solid tumors; PlaCCine for the coding of viral antigens that can elicit a strong immunological response; FixPlas for the application of Imunon’s DNA technology to produce universal cancer vaccines; and IndiPlas, which is in the discovery phase for the development of personalized cancer vaccines or neoepitope cancer vaccines. Imunon, Inc. was formerly known as Celsion Corporation and changed its name to Imunon, Inc. in September 2022. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

About Sernova

Sernova Corp. operates as a clinical-stage regenerative medicine therapeutics company in Canada. The company focuses on the development and commercialization of regenerative medicine therapeutics, including its proprietary Cell Pouch and associated technologies consisting of therapeutic cells and local cellular immune protection. Its Cell Pouch is a novel implantable and scalable medical device which forms a natural environment in the body for the housing and long-term survival and function of therapeutic cells, which release necessary proteins or factors missing from the body to treat chronic diseases as an alternative to daily administration of drugs. Sernova Corp. has a research agreement with the University of Miami to advance the development of Conformal Coating Technology in combination with therapeutic cells within Cell Pouch. Sernova Corp. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in London, Canada.