Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) & Cognition Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CGTX) Critical Analysis

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) and Cognition Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CGTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Cognition Therapeutics’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aura Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$76.41 million	($1.86)	-4.08
Cognition Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$25.79 million	($0.92)	-0.80

Aura Biosciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cognition Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cognition Therapeutics has a beta of 1.46, suggesting that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.8% of Aura Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.3% of Cognition Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of Aura Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.8% of Cognition Therapeutics shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Cognition Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aura Biosciences	N/A	-41.79%	-36.47%
Cognition Therapeutics	N/A	-98.65%	-73.41%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Aura Biosciences and Cognition Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aura Biosciences	0	0	3	0	3.00
Cognition Therapeutics	0	2	4	0	2.67

Aura Biosciences currently has a consensus target price of $20.33, indicating a potential upside of 167.90%. Cognition Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 984.01%. Given Cognition Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Cognition Therapeutics is more favorable than Aura Biosciences.

Summary

Cognition Therapeutics beats Aura Biosciences on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates. Its lead candidate is bel-sar, which is in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of patients with primary choroidal melanoma and other ocular oncology indications, as well as in early-stage clinical development in bladder cancer. The company also focuses on assessing the safety and efficacy of bel-sar in treating a range of other solid tumors, including bladder cancer as an alternative to bacillus calmetteguérin therapy. Aura Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Cognition Therapeutics

Cognition Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics targeting age-related degenerative diseases and disorders of the central nervous system and retina. Its lead product candidate is CT1812, an orally delivered molecule modulator designed to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and bind selectively to the S2R complex, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as geographic atrophy secondary to dry age-related macular degeneration and synucleinopathies, such as dementia with Lewy bodies. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.