Imunon (NASDAQ:IMNN) versus Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Critical Analysis

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA – Get Free Report) and Imunon (NASDAQ:IMNN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.8% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.5% of Imunon shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.0% of Imunon shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Imunon”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

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

Profitability

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Imunon’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Aura Biosciences and Imunon, as reported by MarketBeat.

Aura Biosciences currently has a consensus price target of $20.50, suggesting a potential upside of 249.23%. Imunon has a consensus price target of $232.50, suggesting a potential upside of 7,280.95%. Given Imunon’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Imunon is more favorable than Aura Biosciences.

Volatility & Risk

Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.44, suggesting that its share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Imunon has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Aura Biosciences beats Imunon on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aura Biosciences

(Get Free Report)

Aura Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates. Its lead candidate is bel-sar, which is in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of patients with primary choroidal melanoma and other ocular oncology indications, as well as in early-stage clinical development in bladder cancer. The company also focuses on assessing the safety and efficacy of bel-sar in treating a range of other solid tumors, including bladder cancer as an alternative to bacillus calmetteguérin therapy. Aura Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Imunon

(Get Free Report)

Imunon, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the development of immunotherapies and vaccines to treat cancer and infectious diseases. The company’s lead clinical program IMNN-001, a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of ovarian cancer that is in Phase II clinical development. Its preclinical stage products include IMNN-101, a COVID-19 booster vaccine; IMNN-102 for the treatment of Lassa virus; and IMNN-201, a Trp2 tumor associated antigen cancer vaccine in melanoma. In addition, the company develops non-viral DNA technology across four modalities, such as TheraPlas for the coding of proteins and cytokines in the treatment of solid tumors; PlaCCine for the coding of viral antigens that can elicit a strong immunological response; FixPlas for the application of Imunon’s DNA technology to produce universal cancer vaccines; and IndiPlas, which is in the discovery phase for the development of personalized cancer vaccines or neoepitope cancer vaccines. Imunon, Inc. was formerly known as Celsion Corporation and changed its name to Imunon, Inc. in September 2022. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.