Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) versus Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT) Head-To-Head Analysis

Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT) and Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

94.5% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Precigen shares are held by institutional investors. 17.8% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.4% of Precigen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Arcturus Therapeutics has a beta of 2.48, meaning that its share price is 148% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Precigen has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Arcturus Therapeutics and Precigen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcturus Therapeutics	-317.62%	-46.54%	-36.46%
Precigen	-183.98%	423.75%	84.39%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Arcturus Therapeutics and Precigen”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcturus Therapeutics	$18.72 million	20.86	-$65.78 million	($3.31)	-4.15
Precigen	$85.72 million	32.48	-$250.64 million	($1.04)	-7.51

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Arcturus Therapeutics and Precigen, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcturus Therapeutics	1	3	7	1	2.67
Precigen	1	1	4	0	2.50

Arcturus Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 60.12%. Precigen has a consensus target price of $13.67, suggesting a potential upside of 74.99%. Given Precigen’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Precigen is more favorable than Arcturus Therapeutics.

Summary

Precigen beats Arcturus Therapeutics on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcturus Therapeutics

Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc., a late-stage clinical messenger RNA medicines and vaccine company, focuses on the development of infectious disease vaccines and other products within liver and respiratory rare diseases. Its technology platforms include LUNAR lipid-mediated delivery and STARR mRNA. The company is developing ARCT-810 (LUNAR-OTC), a mRNA-based therapeutic candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for treating ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency; and ARCT-154 (LUNAR-COV19), a mRNA vaccine candidate that is in Phase 3 arm of a Phase 1/2/3 study in Vietnam for the treatment of COVID-19, as well as ARCT-032 (LUNAR-CF), a mRNA therapeutic candidate for cystic fibrosis. Its product pipeline includes, ARCT-2301 for bivalent: ancestral/omicron which is in Phase 3; ARCT-2303 for monovalent that is in Phase 3; ARCT-2138 for quadrivalent which is in Phase 1; and LUNAR-FLU which is in pre-clinical trial. Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc. operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar. The company offers therapeutic platforms consisting of UltraCAR-T to provide chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies for cancer patients; AdenoVerse immunotherapy, which utilizes a library of proprietary adenovectors for gene delivery of therapeutic effectors, immunomodulators, and vaccine antigen; and ActoBiotics for specific disease modification. It also develops programs based on the UltraCAR-T platform, including PRGN-3005 in Phase 1b clinical trial to treat advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer; PRGN-3006 in Phase 1b trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes; and PRGN-3007 in Phase 1/1b trial for the treatment of advanced receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1-positive, hematologic, and solid tumors. In addition, the company is developing programs based on the AdenoVerse immunotherapy platform comprising PRGN-2009 in Phase 2 trial for patients with HPV-associated cancer; and PRGN-2012 in Phase ½ trial to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as AG019, which is based on the ActoBiotics platform and in Phase 1b/2a trial, to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. Further, it provides UltraPorator, a proprietary electroporation device; and develops research models and services for healthcare research applications. The company was formerly known as Intrexon Corporation and changed its name to Precigen, Inc. in February 2020. Precigen, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland.