Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TARS) versus Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) Head to Head Comparison

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TARS) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aura Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$76.41 million	($1.73)	-4.28
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	$182.95 million	9.75	-$135.89 million	($3.10)	-14.99

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

96.8% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.0% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Aura Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.3% of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Aura Biosciences has a beta of 0.3, meaning that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Tarsus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Aura Biosciences and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aura Biosciences	N/A	-41.57%	-36.43%
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	-103.64%	-55.86%	-39.28%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Aura Biosciences and Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aura Biosciences	0	0	5	2	3.29
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals	0	1	5	1	3.00

Aura Biosciences presently has a consensus price target of $23.00, suggesting a potential upside of 210.81%. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $63.67, suggesting a potential upside of 37.01%. Given Aura Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Aura Biosciences is more favorable than Tarsus Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Aura Biosciences beats Tarsus Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aura Biosciences

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 Tarsus Pharmaceuticals

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic candidates for eye care in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is XDEMVY, a novel therapeutic for the treatment of blepharitis caused by the infestation of Demodex mites, as well as to treat meibomian gland disease. It is developing TP-04 for the treatment of rosacea; and TP-05 for Lyme prophylaxis and community malaria reduction. In addition, the company develops lotilaner to address diseases across therapeutic categories in human medicine, including eye care, dermatology, and other infectious disease prevention. Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.