Contrasting Sangamo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SGMO) & Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX)

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

Risk and Volatility

Sangamo Therapeutics has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Therapeutics has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its stock price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sangamo Therapeutics and Compass Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sangamo Therapeutics	-146.30%	-82.17%	-56.21%
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	-26.07%	-24.49%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

56.9% of Sangamo Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of Compass Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Sangamo Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 30.0% of Compass Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sangamo Therapeutics and Compass Therapeutics’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sangamo Therapeutics	$176.23 million	0.61	-$257.83 million	($1.47)	-0.35
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$42.49 million	($0.34)	-4.26

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Sangamo Therapeutics and Compass Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sangamo Therapeutics	1	3	3	0	2.29
Compass Therapeutics	0	0	2	0	3.00

Sangamo Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $4.93, indicating a potential upside of 851.14%. Compass Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 520.69%. Given Sangamo Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Sangamo Therapeutics is more favorable than Compass Therapeutics.

Summary

Compass Therapeutics beats Sangamo Therapeutics on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sangamo Therapeutics

Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage genomic medicine company, focuses on translating science into medicines that transform the lives of patients and families afflicted with serious diseases in the United States. The company's clinical-stage product candidates are ST-920, a gene therapy product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical study for the treatment of Fabry disease; TX200, a chimeric antigen receptor engineered regulatory T cell (CAR-Treg) therapy product candidate that is in Phase 1/2 clinical study for the prevention of immune-mediated rejection in HLA-A2 mismatched kidney transplantation; SB-525, a gene therapy product candidate, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of moderately severe to severe hemophilia A; BIVV003, a zinc finger nuclease gene-edited cell therapy product candidate that is in Phase 1/2 PRECIZN-1 clinical study for the treatment of sickle cell disease. Its preclinical development products focus on CAR-Treg cell therapies for autoimmune disorders and genome engineering for neurological diseases. Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. has collaborative and strategic partnerships with Biogen MA, Inc.; Kite Pharma, Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; Sanofi S.A.; Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc.; Shire International GmbH; Dow AgroSciences LLC; Sigma-Aldrich Corporation; Genentech, Inc.; Open Monoclonal Technology, Inc.; and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The company was formerly known as Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. and changed its name to Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2017. Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Richmond, California.

About Compass Therapeutics

Compass Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat various human diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidates include CTX-009, a bispecific antibody that blocks Delta-like ligand 4 a ligand of Notch-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A signaling pathways, which are critical to angiogenesis and tumor vascularization; and CTX-471, an IgG4 monoclonal antibody that is an agonist of CD137, a key co-stimulatory receptor on immune cells. It also develops CTX-8371, a bispecific inhibitor that targets PD-1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor antibodies. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.