Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) & Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS) Critical Contrast

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.6% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 9.7% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Acumen Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ginkgo Bioworks and Acumen Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ginkgo Bioworks	$184.34 million	1.92	-$892.87 million	($13.08)	-0.49
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$52.37 million	($1.38)	-1.74

Acumen Pharmaceuticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ginkgo Bioworks. Acumen Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ginkgo Bioworks, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Ginkgo Bioworks and Acumen Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ginkgo Bioworks	3	1	1	0	1.60
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	0	0	3	1	3.25

Ginkgo Bioworks currently has a consensus target price of $4.58, suggesting a potential downside of 28.18%. Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $9.00, suggesting a potential upside of 275.00%. Given Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Acumen Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Ginkgo Bioworks.

Profitability

This table compares Ginkgo Bioworks and Acumen Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ginkgo Bioworks	-298.78%	-58.54%	-34.24%
Acumen Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-32.99%	-27.99%

Risk & Volatility

Ginkgo Bioworks has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acumen Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.04, meaning that its share price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Acumen Pharmaceuticals beats Ginkgo Bioworks on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops platform for cell programming in the United States. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. It serves pharma and biotech, agriculture, industrial and environment, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense industries. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Acumen Pharmaceuticals

Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted therapies for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The company focuses on advancing a targeted immunotherapy drug candidate sabirnetug (ACU193), a recombinant humanized immunoglobulin gamma 2 that completed Phase I clinical trial to target soluble amyloid-beta oligomers. The company has a license agreement with Lonza Sales AG to manufacture and commercialize sabirnetug; and a collaboration and license agreement with Halozyme, Inc. for the development of a subcutaneous formulation of sabirnetug. Acumen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia.