Cue Biopharma (NASDAQ:CUE – Get Free Report) and FibroGen (NASDAQ:FGEN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
35.0% of Cue Biopharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.7% of FibroGen shares are held by institutional investors. 12.3% of Cue Biopharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of FibroGen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Cue Biopharma has a beta of 1.66, indicating that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FibroGen has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Cue Biopharma | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3.00 |
| FibroGen | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 |
Cue Biopharma presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 259.71%. Given Cue Biopharma’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Cue Biopharma is more favorable than FibroGen.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Cue Biopharma and FibroGen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Cue Biopharma | $9.53 million | 9.24 | -$50.73 million | ($0.90) | -1.54 |
| FibroGen | $180.02 million | 0.31 | -$284.23 million | ($1.23) | -0.44 |
Cue Biopharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than FibroGen. Cue Biopharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than FibroGen, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Cue Biopharma and FibroGen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Cue Biopharma | -468.02% | -156.38% | -88.07% |
| FibroGen | -67.66% | N/A | -36.17% |
About Cue Biopharma
Cue Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops a novel class of injectable therapeutics to selectively engage and modulate targeted, disease relevant T cells directly within the patient's body. Its lead drug product candidate is CUE-101 for the treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV16+)-driven recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer. The company is also developing CUE-102 targets Wilms' Tumor 1 protein in various cancers; CUE-103, a CUE-100 series drug product candidate; and Neo-STAT and RDI-STAT programs outside of oncology, including CUE-200, CUE-300, and CUE-400 series. It has collaboration agreements with LG Chem, Ltd. for the development of Immuno-STATs focused in the field of oncology; strategic collaboration and option agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to advance CUE-401 for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and license agreement with Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The company was formerly known as Imagen Biopharma, Inc. and changed its name to Cue Biopharma, Inc. in October 2016. Cue Biopharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About FibroGen
FibroGen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes therapeutics to treat serious unmet medical needs. Its lead product candidates are Pamrevlumab, a human monoclonal antibody targeting connective tissue growth factor that is in Phase III clinical development for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer; and Roxadustat, an oral small molecule inhibitor of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase activity, which has completed Phase III clinical development for the treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease in China, Europe, Japan, and other countries, as well as in Phase III clinical development for anemia related with myelodysplastic syndromes. The company has collaboration agreements with Astellas Pharma Inc. and AstraZeneca AB. FibroGen, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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