Reviewing Athersys (NASDAQ:ATHX) and Virios Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VIRI)

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Athersys and Virios Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Athersys	$146,000.00	0.00	-$72.53 million	($2.03)	N/A
Virios Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$5.30 million	($0.27)	-5.81

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

19.4% of Athersys shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.1% of Virios Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Athersys shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of Virios Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Athersys and Virios Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Athersys	N/A	N/A	-223.03%
Virios Therapeutics	N/A	-130.33%	-115.00%

Volatility and Risk

Athersys has a beta of -0.9, meaning that its share price is 190% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Virios Therapeutics has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Virios Therapeutics beats Athersys on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Athersys

Athersys, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the research and development activities in the field of regenerative medicine. Its clinical development programs are focused on treating neurological conditions, cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory and immune disorders, and pulmonary and other conditions. The company's lead platform product includes MultiStem cell therapy, an allogeneic stem cell product for the treatment of patients suffering from neurological damage from an ischemic stroke, as well as for acute respiratory distress syndrome, trauma complications, HSC transplant support, and other indications. It also develops MultiStem cell therapy to promote tissue repair and healing for animal patients. The company has license and collaboration agreements with Healios K.K. to develop and commercialize MultiStem cell therapy for ischemic stroke, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and ophthalmological indications, as well as for the treatment of liver, kidney, pancreas, and intestinal tissue diseases; and the University of Minnesota to develop MultiStem cell therapy platform. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio.

About Virios Therapeutics

Virios Therapeutics, Inc., a development-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing novel antiviral therapies to treat diseases associated with a viral triggered abnormal immune response. The company's lead development candidate is the IMC-1, a fixed dose combination of famciclovir and celecoxib to treat fibromyalgia. It also develops IMC-2, a combination of valacyclovir and celecoxib for the treatment of managing the fatigue, sleep, attention, pain, autonomic function, and anxiety associated with long COVID. The company was formerly known as Innovative Med Concepts, LLC and changed its name to Virios Therapeutics, Inc. in July 2020. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.