Head to Head Comparison: Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX) versus Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) and Compass Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CMPX) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Exelixis and Compass Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exelixis	22.43%	20.99%	16.07%
Compass Therapeutics	N/A	-32.37%	-30.67%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

85.3% of Exelixis shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.4% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of Exelixis shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 28.5% of Compass Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Exelixis has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Therapeutics has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its stock price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Exelixis and Compass Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exelixis	1	5	14	0	2.65
Compass Therapeutics	0	2	3	0	2.60

Exelixis currently has a consensus target price of $31.44, indicating a potential downside of 8.72%. Compass Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $6.75, indicating a potential upside of 389.13%. Given Compass Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Compass Therapeutics is more favorable than Exelixis.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exelixis	$2.08 billion	4.73	$207.76 million	$1.56	22.08
Compass Therapeutics	$850,000.00	223.38	-$42.49 million	($0.37)	-3.73

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

Summary

Exelixis beats Compass Therapeutics on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc., an oncology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers in the United States. The company offers CABOMETYX tablets for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy; and COMETRIQ capsules for the treatment of progressive and metastatic medullary thyroid cancer. Its CABOMETYX and COMETRIQ are derived from cabozantinib, an inhibitor of multiple tyrosine kinases, including MET, AXL, RET, and VEGF receptors. The company also offers COTELLIC, an inhibitor of MEK as a combination regimen to treat specific forms of advanced melanoma; and MINNEBRO, an oral non-steroidal selective blocker of the mineralocorticoid receptor for the treatment of hypertension in Japan. It develops zanzalintinib, a novel, potent, next-generation oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that targets VEGF receptors, MET and the TAM kinases (TYRO3, AXL and MER); and XB002, a next-generation tissue factor (TF)-targeting ADC, administered via intravenous infusion and composed of a human monoclonal antibody (mAb) against TF that is conjugated to an auristatin-based microtubulin inhibitor (MTI) payload. It has research collaborations and license agreements with Ipsen Pharma SAS; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.; Redwood Bioscience, Inc.; R.P. Scherer Technologies, LLC; Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc.; NBE Therapeutics AG; Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited; Iconic Therapeutics, Inc.; Invenra, Inc.; StemSynergy Therapeutics, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; and Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, as well as clinical development agreement with Sairopa B.V. for ADU-1805. The company was formerly known as Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Exelixis, Inc. in February 2000. Exelixis, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.

About Compass Therapeutics

Compass Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing antibody-based therapeutics to treat various human diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidates include CTX-009, a bispecific antibody that blocks Delta-like ligand 4 a ligand of Notch-1, and vascular endothelial growth factor A signaling pathways, which are critical to angiogenesis and tumor vascularization; and CTX-471, an IgG4 monoclonal antibody that is an agonist of CD137, a key co-stimulatory receptor on immune cells. It also develops CTX-8371, a bispecific inhibitor that targets PD-1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor antibodies. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.