Reviewing Mustang Bio (NASDAQ:MBIO) & Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO)

Mustang Bio (NASDAQ:MBIO) and Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, risk and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Mustang Bio has a beta of 2.08, meaning that its share price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agios Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.87, meaning that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Mustang Bio and Agios Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mustang Bio	1	0	0	0	1.00
Agios Pharmaceuticals	1	4	6	1	2.58

Agios Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $35.78, indicating a potential upside of 45.50%. Given Agios Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Agios Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Mustang Bio.

Profitability

This table compares Mustang Bio and Agios Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mustang Bio	N/A	-75.33%	-16.50%
Agios Pharmaceuticals	-895.86%	-28.35%	-26.42%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

10.0% of Mustang Bio shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Mustang Bio shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Agios Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Mustang Bio and Agios Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mustang Bio	N/A	N/A	-$15.75 million	($0.31)	-3.35
Agios Pharmaceuticals	$36.50 million	39.28	$673.72 million	($7.00)	-3.51

Agios Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Mustang Bio. Agios Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mustang Bio, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Agios Pharmaceuticals beats Mustang Bio on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mustang Bio

Mustang Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on translating medical breakthroughs in cell and gene therapies into potential cures for hematologic cancers, solid tumors, and rare genetic diseases. Its pipeline focuses on gene therapy programs for rare genetic disorders, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) engineered T cell (CAR T) therapies for hematologic malignancies, and CAR T therapies for solid tumors. The company develops MB-117 and MB-217, a gene therapy program for X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency, a rare genetic immune system condition in which affected patients do not live beyond infancy without treatment. The company also develops MB-106 CAR T cell program for B cell non-hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia; MB-101 CAR T cell program for glioblastoma; MB-108, a next-generation oncolytic herpes simplex virus. It has license agreements with Nationwide Children's Hospital, CSL Behring; Mayo Clinic; Leiden University Medical Centre; SIRION Biotech GmbH. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.

About Agios Pharmaceuticals

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops medicines in the field of cellular metabolism in the United States. Its lead product includes PYRUKYND (mitapivat), an activator of wild-type and mutant pyruvate kinase (PK), enzymes for the treatment of hemolytic anemias. The company develops AG-946, a PK activator for treating lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome and hemolytic anemias; and AG-181, a phenylalanine hydroxylase stabilizer for the treatment of phenylketonuria. Its preclinical product is siRNA for the treatment of polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder. Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.