Comparing Vaxart (OTCMKTS:VXRT) & Contineum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTNM)

Vaxart (OTCMKTS:VXRT) and Contineum Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTNM) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Vaxart and Contineum Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vaxart	0	1	0	0	2.00
Contineum Therapeutics	1	2	3	0	2.33

Contineum Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $22.33, suggesting a potential upside of 215.44%. Given Contineum Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Contineum Therapeutics is more favorable than Vaxart.

Volatility & Risk

Vaxart has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Contineum Therapeutics has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Vaxart and Contineum Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vaxart	15.88%	53.04%	20.85%
Contineum Therapeutics	N/A	-24.73%	-23.51%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

18.0% of Vaxart shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Vaxart shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Contineum Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vaxart and Contineum Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vaxart	$47.40 million	2.29	$16.33 million	$0.16	2.78
Contineum Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$59.98 million	($1.73)	-4.09

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

Summary

Vaxart beats Contineum Therapeutics on 9 of the 13 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 Contineum Therapeutics

Contineum Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing novel oral small molecule therapies for neuroscience, inflammation, and immunology indications with high unmet need. Its lead asset is PIPE-791, a novel, brain penetrant, small molecule inhibitor of the lysophosphatidic acid 1 receptor (LPA1R) for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The company also develops PIPE-307, a novel, small molecule selective inhibitor of the muscarinic type 1 M1 receptor to treat depression and relapse remitting MS; and CTX-343, a peripherally-restricted LPA1R antagonist. Contineum Therapeutics, Inc. was formerly known as Pipeline Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Contineum Therapeutics, Inc. in November 2023. The company was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.