Comparing Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO) and Innate Pharma (OTCMKTS:IPHYF)

Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO) and Innate Pharma (OTCMKTS:IPHYF) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Mesoblast and Innate Pharma, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mesoblast	0	0	4	0	3.00
Innate Pharma	0	0	0	0	0.00

Mesoblast presently has a consensus target price of $13.50, indicating a potential downside of 7.72%. Given Mesoblast’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Mesoblast is more favorable than Innate Pharma.

Risk and Volatility

Mesoblast has a beta of 3.54, suggesting that its stock price is 254% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Innate Pharma has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Mesoblast and Innate Pharma”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mesoblast	$5.90 million	283.03	-$87.96 million	N/A	N/A
Innate Pharma	$66.71 million	3.49	-$8.19 million	N/A	N/A

Innate Pharma has higher revenue and earnings than Mesoblast.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.4% of Mesoblast shares are held by institutional investors. 18.8% of Mesoblast shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 31.9% of Innate Pharma shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Mesoblast and Innate Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mesoblast	N/A	N/A	N/A
Innate Pharma	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Mesoblast beats Innate Pharma on 6 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mesoblast

Mesoblast Limited engages in the development of regenerative medicine products in Australia, the United States, Singapore, and Switzerland. The company offers products in the areas of cardiovascular, spine orthopedic disorder, oncology, hematology, and immune-mediated and inflammatory diseases. Its proprietary regenerative medicine technology platform is based on specialized cells known as mesenchymal lineage cells. The company offers Remestemcel-L that is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of systemic inflammatory diseases, including steroid refractory acute graft versus host disease, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and biologic refractory inflammatory bowel disease; and Remestemcel-L, which is in Phase III clinical trials to treat chronic heart failure and chronic low back pain due to degenerative disc disease. It is also developing MPC-300-IV to treat biologic refractory rheumatoid arthritis diabetic nephropathy; and MPC-25-IC for the treatment or prevention of acute myocardial infarction. It has strategic partnerships with Tasly Pharmaceutical Group to offer MPC-150-IM for heart failure and MPC-25-IC for heart attacks in China; JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. to treat wound healing in patients with epidermolysis bullosa; and Grünenthal to develops and commercializes cell therapy for the treatment of chronic low back pain. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

About Innate Pharma

Innate Pharma S.A., a biotechnology company, develops immunotherapies for cancer patients in France and internationally. The company's products include Lacutamab (IPH4102), an anti-KIR3DL2 antibody, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, as well as in Phase II clinical trials to treat refractory sézary syndrome; Monalizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that is in Phase III clinical trial to treat advanced solid tumors comprising colorectal and lung cancer, as well as head and neck cancer; IPH5201, a blocking antibody that is in Phase II clinical trials targeting the CD39 immunosuppressive pathway; IPH5301, an anti-CD73 antibody targeting the immunosuppressive adenosine pathway to promote antitumor immunity; IPH6401, an BCMA-targeting NK cell engager; and IPH6101, a NKp46-based NK cell engager that targets CD123 proprietary multi-specific antibody format; and IPH62, an B7-H3-targeting NK cell engager. Its products in preclinical trials are IPH43, an anti-MICA/B ADC and IPH45, an antibody drug conjugates (ADC); and IPH67, an undisclosed, multi-specific ANKET. The company has licensing and collaboration agreements with AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, and Orega Biotech; and co-development and license agreement with MedImmune Limited. Innate Pharma S.A. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Marseille, France.