Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) vs. Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) Financial Contrast

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) and Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Humacyte and Cidara Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Humacyte	0	1	3	0	2.75
Cidara Therapeutics	0	0	3	1	3.25

Humacyte presently has a consensus target price of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 73.54%. Cidara Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $71.25, indicating a potential upside of 430.13%. Given Cidara Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cidara Therapeutics is more favorable than Humacyte.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

44.7% of Humacyte shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.8% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 23.1% of Humacyte shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.4% of Cidara Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Humacyte and Cidara Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Humacyte	N/A	-199.62%	-61.45%
Cidara Therapeutics	-33.19%	-201.62%	-30.28%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Humacyte and Cidara Therapeutics’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Humacyte	$1.57 million	349.66	-$110.78 million	($1.07)	-4.31
Cidara Therapeutics	$63.90 million	0.96	-$22.93 million	($4.80)	-2.80

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

Risk & Volatility

Humacyte has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cidara Therapeutics has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

About Humacyte

Humacyte, Inc. engages in the development and manufacture of off-the-shelf, implantable, and bioengineered human tissues for the treatment of diseases and conditions across a range of anatomic locations in multiple therapeutic areas. The company using its proprietary and scientific technology platform to engineer and manufacture human acellular vessels (HAVs) to be implanted into patient without inducing a foreign body response or leading to immune rejection. It is developing a portfolio of HAVs, which would target the vascular repair, reconstruction, and replacement market, including vascular trauma; arteriovenous access for hemodialysis; peripheral arterial disease; pediatric heart surgery; and coronary artery bypass grafting, as well as for the delivery of cellular therapy, including pancreatic islet cell transplantation to treat Type 1 diabetes. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina.

About Cidara Therapeutics

Cidara Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of long-acting anti-infectives for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases and oncology in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is rezafungin acetate, a novel molecule in the echinocandin class of antifungals for the treatment and prevention of invasive fungal infections, including candidemia and invasive candidiasis, which are fungal infections associated with high mortality rates. It also advances its Cloudbreak platform to develop conjugates for the prevention and treatment of influenza and other viral infections, such as RSV, HIV, and the SARS-CoV-2 strains causing COVID-19. The company was formerly known as K2 Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. in July 2014. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is based in San Diego, California.