Head-To-Head Review: Pyxis Oncology (NASDAQ:PYXS) & Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO)

Inovio Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:INO) and Pyxis Oncology (NASDAQ:PYXS) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Pyxis Oncology, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Inovio Pharmaceuticals	1	1	5	1	2.75
Pyxis Oncology	1	1	8	0	2.70

Inovio Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $3.17, suggesting a potential upside of 172.99%. Pyxis Oncology has a consensus target price of $8.75, suggesting a potential upside of 308.88%. Given Pyxis Oncology’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Pyxis Oncology is more favorable than Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

Risk & Volatility

Inovio Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.61, meaning that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pyxis Oncology has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.8% of Inovio Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 39.1% of Pyxis Oncology shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Inovio Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Pyxis Oncology 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Pyxis Oncology”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Inovio Pharmaceuticals	$60,000.00	1,999.07	-$84.95 million	($0.91)	-1.27
Pyxis Oncology	$13.86 million	12.88	-$79.62 million	($1.41)	-1.52

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

Profitability

This table compares Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Pyxis Oncology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Inovio Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-669.94%	-73.97%
Pyxis Oncology	N/A	-215.23%	-112.19%

About Inovio Pharmaceuticals

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of DNA medicines to treat and protect people from diseases associated with human papillomavirus (HPV), cancer, and infectious diseases. Its DNA medicines platform uses precisely designed SynCon that identify and optimize the DNA sequence of the target antigen, as well as CELLECTRA smart devices technology that facilitates delivery of the DNA plasmids. Its products in pipeline include VGX-3100 for the treatment of HPV-related cervical high-grade dysplasia; INO-3107 for HPV-related recurrent respiratory papillomatosis and is under Phase 1/2 trial; INO-3112 for the treatment of HPV-related Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma and is under Phase 2 trial; INO-5401 for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme and is under Phase 2 trial; INO-4201 for Ebola Virus Disease and is under Phase 1b trial; INO-4800 for COVID-19 and is under Phase 3 trial; and INO-6160 for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus and is under Phase 1 trial. Its partners and collaborators include Advaccine Biopharmaceuticals Suzhou Co, ApolloBio Corporation, AstraZeneca, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, The U.S. Department of Defense, HIV Vaccines Trial Network, International Vaccine Institute, Kaneka Eurogentec, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Plumbline Life Sciences, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Richter-Helm BioLogics, Thermo Fisher Scientific, the University of Pennsylvania, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and The Wistar Institute. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

About Pyxis Oncology

Pyxis Oncology, Inc., a clinical stage company, engages in the development of therapeutics to treat cancers. Its lead antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) product candidate is PYX-201, an investigational novel ADC consisting of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), which is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors; and lead immuno-oncology (IO) product candidate is PYX-106, an investigational fully human IgG1 Siglec-15-targeting antibody that is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with advanced solid tumors. The company is also developing PYX-107, a CD40 agonist with demonstrated anti-cancer activity in patients who previously progressed on PD-(L)1 inhibitors, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of solid tumors, such as soft tissue sarcomas, esophageal and gastroesophageal junction, cancers, and melanoma in combination with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy. It has in-license agreement with Pfizer Inc. to develop and commercialize ADC product candidates directed to certain licensed targets, including PYX-201 and PYX-203, and products containing the ADC product candidates; and Biosion USA, Inc. for development, manufacture, and commercialization of PYX-106, an IO product candidate. Pyxis Oncology, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.