Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS – Get Free Report) and Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and profitability.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Arbutus Biopharma and Pliant Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Arbutus Biopharma | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.50 |
| Pliant Therapeutics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Arbutus Biopharma presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.99%. Pliant Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 270.51%. Given Pliant Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Pliant Therapeutics is more favorable than Arbutus Biopharma.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Arbutus Biopharma and Pliant Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Arbutus Biopharma | $14.08 million | 51.36 | -$33.50 million | $0.79 | 4.62 |
| Pliant Therapeutics | $1.58 million | 31.73 | -$149.34 million | ($1.49) | -0.54 |
Arbutus Biopharma has higher revenue and earnings than Pliant Therapeutics. Pliant Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arbutus Biopharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
43.8% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.9% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Arbutus Biopharma and Pliant Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Arbutus Biopharma | 84.22% | 90.98% | 82.34% |
| Pliant Therapeutics | N/A | -52.17% | -40.46% |
Volatility & Risk
Arbutus Biopharma has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pliant Therapeutics has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Arbutus Biopharma beats Pliant Therapeutics on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Arbutus Biopharma
Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression. The company’s research and development programs include AB-101, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor to reawaken patients’ HBV-specific immune system; and small molecule antiviral medicines to treat coronaviruses, including COVID-19. It has licensing agreements with Gritstone Oncology, Inc; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Qilu Pharmaceuticals Co, Ltd; Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.; and Antios Therapeutics, Inc. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation also has a clinical collaboration agreement with Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc to evaluate VTP-300. The company was formerly known as Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Arbutus Biopharma Corporation in July 2015. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania.
About Pliant Therapeutics
Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of fibrosis and related diseases in the United States. The company's lead candidate is bexotegrast, an oral, small-molecule, dual selective inhibitor of avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is in phase 2b trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in phase 2a trial for primary sclerosing cholangitis. It also develops PLN-1474, an oral, small-molecule selective inhibitor of avß1 for the treatment of liver fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; PLN-101095, a dual inhibitor of integrins avß8 and avß1 for the treatment of solid tumors; and PLN-101325 for treatment of muscular dystrophies. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in South San Francisco, California.
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