Critical Survey: Cellectis (NASDAQ:CLLS) & LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ)

Cellectis (NASDAQ:CLLS) and LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Cellectis has a beta of 3.11, suggesting that its share price is 211% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, LENZ Therapeutics has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cellectis and LENZ Therapeutics’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cellectis	$9.19 million	13.37	-$101.06 million	($1.29)	-1.71
LENZ Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$124.65 million	N/A	N/A

Cellectis has higher revenue and earnings than LENZ Therapeutics.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

63.9% of Cellectis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.3% of LENZ Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.4% of Cellectis shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 38.4% of LENZ Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Cellectis and LENZ Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cellectis	-529.81%	-67.41%	-20.83%
LENZ Therapeutics	N/A	-39.55%	-33.40%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Cellectis and LENZ Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cellectis	0	0	2	0	3.00
LENZ Therapeutics	0	0	5	0	3.00

Cellectis currently has a consensus price target of $8.00, indicating a potential upside of 261.99%. LENZ Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $31.33, indicating a potential upside of 30.07%. Given Cellectis’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Cellectis is more favorable than LENZ Therapeutics.

Summary

Cellectis beats LENZ Therapeutics on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cellectis

Cellectis S.A., a clinical stage biotechnological company, develops immuno-oncology products based on gene-edited T-cells that express chimeric antigen receptors to target and eradicate cancer cells. The company is developing UCART19, an allogeneic T-cell product candidate for the treatment of CD19-expressing hematologic malignancies, such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia; ALLO-501 and ALLO-501A to treat relapsed or refractory for non-hodgkin lymphoma (NHL); and ALLO-715 for the treatment of multiple myeloma. It also develops UCART22 to treat B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; UCARTCS1 and ALLO-605 for the treatment of multiple myeloma; ALLO-316 for renal cell carcinoma; UCART123 for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia; and UCART 20×22 for relapsed or refractory B-Cell NHL. The company has strategic alliances with Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. and Les Laboratoires Servier; research collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Iovance Biotherapeutics; and collaboration and license agreement with Cytovia, as well as a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca to develop novel cell and gene therapy candidate products. Cellectis S.A. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

About LENZ Therapeutics

LENZ Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to improve vision in the United States. Its product candidates include LNZ100 and LNZ101 which are in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of presbyopia. The company is headquartered in Del Mar, California.