Analyzing Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) & Lexeo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LXEO)

Protara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TARA) and Lexeo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LXEO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Protara Therapeutics has a beta of 1.6, suggesting that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lexeo Therapeutics has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

38.1% of Protara Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.5% of Protara Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Protara Therapeutics and Lexeo Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Protara Therapeutics	N/A	-55.96%	-49.06%
Lexeo Therapeutics	N/A	-57.66%	-48.18%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Protara Therapeutics and Lexeo Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Protara Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$40.42 million	($2.40)	-1.60
Lexeo Therapeutics	$650,000.00	163.94	-$66.39 million	($3.08)	-1.04

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Protara Therapeutics and Lexeo Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Protara Therapeutics	0	0	6	0	3.00
Lexeo Therapeutics	0	0	5	1	3.17

Protara Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $20.40, suggesting a potential upside of 429.87%. Lexeo Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $22.20, suggesting a potential upside of 591.59%. Given Lexeo Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lexeo Therapeutics is more favorable than Protara Therapeutics.

Summary

Lexeo Therapeutics beats Protara Therapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Protara Therapeutics

Protara Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in advancing transformative therapies for the treatment of cancer and rare diseases. The company's lead program is TARA-002, an investigational cell therapy, which is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and lymphatic malformations. It is also developing intravenous choline chloride, an investigational phospholipid substrate replacement therapy that is in Phase II clinical trial for patients receiving parenteral nutrition. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Lexeo Therapeutics

Lexeo Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical stage genetic medicine company that focuses on hereditary and acquired diseases. The company develops LX2006, which is an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia (FA) cardiomyopathy; LX2020, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of plakophilin-2 arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy; LX2021, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of DSP cardiomyopathy associated with it; and LX2022, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM caused by TNNI3 gene. It also develops LX1001, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1020, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1021 for the treatment of APOE4 homozygotes; and LX1004 for the treatment of CLN2 Batten disease. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in New York, New York.