Contrasting Bolt Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:BOLT) and Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX)

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) and Bolt Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:BOLT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.5% of Nkarta shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Bolt Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 8.4% of Nkarta shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.1% of Bolt Biotherapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Nkarta and Bolt Biotherapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Nkarta	N/A	-27.69%	-22.22%
Bolt Biotherapeutics	N/A	-94.22%	-50.56%

Risk & Volatility

Nkarta has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bolt Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Nkarta and Bolt Biotherapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Nkarta	1	1	4	0	2.50
Bolt Biotherapeutics	1	2	2	0	2.20

Nkarta currently has a consensus price target of $13.25, indicating a potential upside of 390.74%. Bolt Biotherapeutics has a consensus price target of $34.00, indicating a potential upside of 652.21%. Given Bolt Biotherapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Bolt Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Nkarta.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Nkarta and Bolt Biotherapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Nkarta	N/A	N/A	-$108.79 million	($1.38)	-1.96
Bolt Biotherapeutics	$7.69 million	1.13	-$63.12 million	($22.38)	-0.20

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

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.

About Bolt Biotherapeutics

Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. The company’s lead product candidate BDC-1001, which is in clinical development for the treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2- positive solid tumors, including breast, colorectal, endometrial, and gastroesophageal cancer. It is also developing BDC-3042, an agonist antibody targeting Dectin-2 for range of tumors, such as head and neck, non-small cell lung, ovarian, triple-negative breast, and other cancer. The company has collaboration agreements with Toray Industries, Genmab A/S, Innovent Biologics, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd; and license agreement with Stanford University. The company was formerly known as Bolt Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. in July 2015. Bolt Biotherapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.