Reviewing Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) and Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL)

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) and Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Rigel Pharmaceuticals and Oruka Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	40.17%	204.70%	57.42%
Oruka Therapeutics	N/A	-25.97%	-24.79%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Rigel Pharmaceuticals and Oruka Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	$179.28 million	4.34	$17.49 million	$6.17	6.94
Oruka Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$83.72 million	($1.90)	-15.33

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

66.2% of Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.4% of Oruka Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.7% of Oruka Therapeutics shares are held 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.

Volatility and Risk

Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oruka Therapeutics has a beta of -0.41, suggesting that its stock price is 141% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Rigel Pharmaceuticals and Oruka Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rigel Pharmaceuticals	0	4	3	0	2.43
Oruka Therapeutics	1	0	7	1	2.89

Rigel Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $43.20, suggesting a potential upside of 0.86%. Oruka Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $48.88, suggesting a potential upside of 67.84%. Given Oruka Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Oruka Therapeutics is more favorable than Rigel Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Rigel Pharmaceuticals beats Oruka Therapeutics on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in discovering, developing, and providing therapies that enhance the lives of patients with hematologic disorders and cancer. The company’s commercialized products include Tavalisse, an oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia; Rezlidhia, a non-intensive monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test; and GAVRETO, a once daily, small molecule, oral, kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic rearranged during transfection (RET) fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, as well as for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer. It also develops R289, an oral IRAK1/4 Inhibitor, which is in Phase 1b clinical trials for the treatment of hematology-oncology, autoimmune, and inflammatory diseases; and a receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitor program in clinical development with partner Eli Lilly and Company. In addition, the company has product candidates in clinical development with partners BerGenBio ASA and Daiichi Sankyo. The company has strategic development collaboration with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for the development of REZLIDHIA (Olutasidenib) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other hematologic cancers. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Oruka Therapeutics

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company, which focuses on developing novel monoclonal antibody therapeutics for PsO and other I&I indications. Its pipeline includes ORKA-001 and ORKA-002. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.