Critical Analysis: Cardio Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CDIO) and Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA)

Cardio Diagnostics (NASDAQ:CDIO) and Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cardio Diagnostics and Avidity Biosciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cardio Diagnostics	$10,000.00	600.88	-$6.50 million	($3.72)	-0.55
Avidity Biosciences	$18.62 million	N/A	-$322.30 million	N/A	N/A

Cardio Diagnostics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Avidity Biosciences.

Risk & Volatility

Cardio Diagnostics has a beta of 2.7, indicating that its share price is 170% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Avidity Biosciences has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cardio Diagnostics and Avidity Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cardio Diagnostics	-40,612.50%	-71.75%	-66.25%
Avidity Biosciences	-3,650.39%	-44.92%	-39.57%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Cardio Diagnostics and Avidity Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cardio Diagnostics	1	0	0	0	1.00
Avidity Biosciences	1	12	5	1	2.32

Avidity Biosciences has a consensus price target of $69.42, indicating a potential upside of 396.22%. Given Avidity Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Avidity Biosciences is more favorable than Cardio Diagnostics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.1% of Cardio Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. 13.3% of Cardio Diagnostics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.8% of Avidity Biosciences shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Avidity Biosciences beats Cardio Diagnostics on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cardio Diagnostics

Cardio Diagnostics Holdings, Inc. develops and commercializes epigenetics-based clinical tests for cardiovascular disease. It offers Epi+Gen CHD, a three-year symptomatic coronary heart disease (CHD) risk assessment test targeting CHD events, including heart attacks; and PrecisionCHD, an integrated epigenetic-genetic blood test for the early detection of coronary heart disease. Cardio Diagnostics Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Avidity Biosciences

Avidity Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the delivery of RNA therapeutics. It develops antibody oligonucleotide conjugates (AOC) that are designed to treat diseases previously untreatable with RNA therapeutics. The company's lead product candidate AOC 1001 for the treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1, a rare monogenic muscle disease that is in phase 1/2 clinical trial. Its other products in pipeline include AOC 1044 for the treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is under phase 1/2 clinical development trial; and AOC 1020 to treat facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy that is in phase 1/2 clinical trial. The company is developing products for rare skeletal muscle and rare cardiac diseases. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.