Gritstone Oncology (NASDAQ:GRTS) and bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, valuation and dividends.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
59.0% of Gritstone Oncology shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.3% of bluebird bio shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.0% of Gritstone Oncology shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of bluebird bio shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Gritstone Oncology and bluebird bio, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Gritstone Oncology | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.33 |
bluebird bio | 0 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 2.24 |
Gritstone Oncology presently has a consensus price target of $22.3333, indicating a potential upside of 64.34%. bluebird bio has a consensus price target of $68.4667, indicating a potential upside of 145.05%. Given bluebird bio's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe bluebird bio is more favorable than Gritstone Oncology.
Profitability
This table compares Gritstone Oncology and bluebird bio's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Gritstone Oncology | -2,962.52% | -101.31% | -68.78% |
bluebird bio | -256.84% | -45.78% | -35.14% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Gritstone Oncology and bluebird bio's top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Gritstone Oncology | $4.36 million | 117.71 | $-94,430,000.00 | ($2.81) | -4.84 |
bluebird bio | $44.67 million | 42.00 | $-789,610,000.00 | ($14.31) | -1.95 |
Gritstone Oncology has higher earnings, but lower revenue than bluebird bio. Gritstone Oncology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than bluebird bio, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility and Risk
Gritstone Oncology has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its stock price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, bluebird bio has a beta of 1.89, indicating that its stock price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
bluebird bio beats Gritstone Oncology on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.