Contrasting Immunocore (NASDAQ:IMCR) and Curis (NASDAQ:CRIS)

Immunocore (NASDAQ:IMCR) and Curis (NASDAQ:CRIS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Immunocore and Curis’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Immunocore	$249.43 million	7.80	-$55.29 million	($1.22)	-31.89
Curis	$10.02 million	2.94	-$47.41 million	($8.61)	-0.58

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

Profitability

This table compares Immunocore and Curis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Immunocore	-22.60%	-16.54%	-8.75%
Curis	-468.18%	-243.03%	-62.24%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

84.5% of Immunocore shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.0% of Curis shares are held by institutional investors. 9.1% of Immunocore shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.7% of Curis shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Immunocore has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Curis has a beta of 3.35, indicating that its share price is 235% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Immunocore and Curis, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Immunocore	0	1	12	0	2.92
Curis	0	0	3	0	3.00

Immunocore currently has a consensus price target of $83.09, indicating a potential upside of 113.55%. Curis has a consensus price target of $37.33, indicating a potential upside of 646.67%. Given Curis’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Curis is more favorable than Immunocore.

Summary

Immunocore beats Curis on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Immunocore

Immunocore Holdings plc, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, engages in the development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. The company offers KIMMTRAK for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. It also develops other programs for oncology, including tebentafusp that is in Phase 2/3 clinical trial to treat advanced cutaneous melanoma. In addition, the company's product pipeline comprises IMC-F106C, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial to treat first line advanced cutaneous melanoma; and in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in multiple tumor types, such as platinum resistant ovarian, non-small cell lung, and endometrial carcinoma. Further, it develops IMC-R117C, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat colorectal and gastrointestinal cancers; IMC-M113V, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat human immunosuppression virus; IMC-I109V, which is in a Phase I clinical trial in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus; IMC-T119C, which is in preclinical trial for multiple solid tumor cancers; IMC-P115C, which is in preclinical trial to treat multiple solid tumor cancers; and IMC-S118AI to treat type 1 diabetes and is in preclinical trial. Immunocore Holdings plc was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Abingdon, the United Kingdom.

About Curis

Curis, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of drug candidates for the treatment of human cancers in the United States. Its clinical stage drug candidates include Emavusertib, an oral small molecule IRAK4 kinase inhibitor, which is in a Phase 1/2 open-label, single arm expansion trial in patients with relapsed or refractory, or R/R, AML and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. The company's pipeline also includes Fimepinostat, an oral dual inhibitor of HDAC and PI3K enzymes for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; CA-170, an oral, small molecule antagonist designated as CA-170 that selectively targets PD-L1 and VISTA; and CA-327, an oral, small molecule, TIM3/PD-L1, which is a molecule antagonist of PD-L1 and TIM3. It has collaboration agreement with Genentech Inc., or Genentech and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, or Roche, for the commercialization of Erivedge, an orally-administered small molecule hedgehog signaling pathway antagonist for the treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma, or BCC; Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited for the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule compounds in the areas of immuno-oncology and precision oncology; and also licensed four programs under the Aurigene collaboration, including emavusertib. Curis, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.