Head-To-Head Survey: Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG) & Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN)

Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG) and Precigen (NASDAQ:PGEN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Galapagos and Precigen, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Galapagos	1	3	1	0	2.00
Precigen	1	0	2	0	2.33

Galapagos presently has a consensus target price of $34.50, indicating a potential upside of 20.42%. Precigen has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 614.29%. Given Precigen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Precigen is more favorable than Galapagos.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Galapagos and Precigen’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Galapagos	$259.40 million	7.28	$229.12 million	($2.29)	-12.51
Precigen	$6.22 million	56.03	-$95.90 million	($0.39)	-3.59

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

Volatility and Risk

Galapagos has a beta of 0.25, meaning that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Precigen has a beta of 1.73, meaning that its stock price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Galapagos and Precigen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Galapagos	-26.25%	-2.60%	-1.46%
Precigen	-1,540.63%	-55.47%	-43.25%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

32.5% of Galapagos shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.5% of Precigen shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Galapagos shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 41.7% of Precigen shares are held by 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.

Summary

Precigen beats Galapagos on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Galapagos

Galapagos NV, a biotechnology company, develops medicines focusing on oncology and immunology primarily in the United States and Europe. The company's pipeline products comprise GLPG3667 that has completed phase 1b trial; GLPG5101, a CD19 CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in Phase1/2 trial in relapsed/refractory non-hodgkin lymphoma; GLPG5201, a CD19 CAR-T product candidates manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 trial in replapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia; and GLPG5301, a BCMA CAR-T product candidate manufactured at point-of-care, currently in phase 1/2 in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. The company has collaboration agreements with Gilead Sciences, Inc.; and AbbVie S.à r.l. Galapagos NV was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium.

About Precigen

Precigen, Inc. operates as a discovery and clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops gene and cell therapies using precision technology to target diseases in therapeutic areas of immuno-oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. It operates through two segments, Biopharmaceuticals and Exemplar. The company offers therapeutic platforms consisting of UltraCAR-T to provide chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapies for cancer patients; AdenoVerse immunotherapy, which utilizes a library of proprietary adenovectors for gene delivery of therapeutic effectors, immunomodulators, and vaccine antigen; and ActoBiotics for specific disease modification. It also develops programs based on the UltraCAR-T platform, including PRGN-3005 in Phase 1b clinical trial to treat advanced ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer; PRGN-3006 in Phase 1b trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes; and PRGN-3007 in Phase 1/1b trial for the treatment of advanced receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1-positive, hematologic, and solid tumors. In addition, the company is developing programs based on the AdenoVerse immunotherapy platform comprising PRGN-2009 in Phase 2 trial for patients with HPV-associated cancer; and PRGN-2012 in Phase ½ trial to treat recurrent respiratory papillomatosis, as well as AG019, which is based on the ActoBiotics platform and in Phase 1b/2a trial, to treat type 1 diabetes mellitus. Further, it provides UltraPorator, a proprietary electroporation device; and develops research models and services for healthcare research applications. The company was formerly known as Intrexon Corporation and changed its name to Precigen, Inc. in February 2020. Precigen, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland.