Comparing Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) & Biomea Fusion (NASDAQ:BMEA)

Biomea Fusion (NASDAQ:BMEA) and Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.7% of Biomea Fusion shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 27.6% of Biomea Fusion shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.4% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Biomea Fusion and Pliant Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Biomea Fusion	N/A	-118.90%	-93.66%
Pliant Therapeutics	N/A	-48.91%	-41.09%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Biomea Fusion and Pliant Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Biomea Fusion	0	2	9	2	3.00
Pliant Therapeutics	0	12	0	0	2.00

Biomea Fusion presently has a consensus target price of $29.18, suggesting a potential upside of 916.79%. Pliant Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $13.31, suggesting a potential upside of 758.87%. Given Biomea Fusion’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Biomea Fusion is more favorable than Pliant Therapeutics.

Risk and Volatility

Biomea Fusion has a beta of -0.26, indicating that its stock price is 126% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pliant Therapeutics has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Biomea Fusion and Pliant Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Biomea Fusion	N/A	N/A	-$117.25 million	($4.01)	-0.72
Pliant Therapeutics	$1.58 million	60.07	-$161.34 million	($3.47)	-0.45

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

Summary

Pliant Therapeutics beats Biomea Fusion on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Biomea Fusion

Biomea Fusion, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of covalent small molecule drugs to treat patients with genetically defined cancers and metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is BMF-219, a covalent inhibitor of menin for treating patients with liquid and solid tumors and type 2 diabetes. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

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.