Comparing Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) and Molecular Partners (NASDAQ:MOLN)

Molecular Partners (NASDAQ:MOLN) and Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Molecular Partners has a beta of 1.09, indicating that its share price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Relay Therapeutics has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Molecular Partners and Relay Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Molecular Partners	N/A	-68.36%	-54.82%
Relay Therapeutics	N/A	-42.27%	-38.67%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Molecular Partners and Relay Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Molecular Partners	$5.65 million	30.09	-$74.41 million	($1.71)	-2.46
Relay Therapeutics	$15.35 million	268.96	-$276.48 million	($1.57)	-12.00

Molecular Partners has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Relay Therapeutics. Relay Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Molecular Partners, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Molecular Partners and Relay Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Molecular Partners	1	1	2	0	2.25
Relay Therapeutics	1	1	10	2	2.93

Molecular Partners currently has a consensus price target of $8.38, suggesting a potential upside of 98.93%. Relay Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $25.92, suggesting a potential upside of 37.56%. Given Molecular Partners’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Molecular Partners is more favorable than Relay Therapeutics.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

26.6% of Molecular Partners shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 5.9% of Molecular Partners shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Relay Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Relay Therapeutics beats Molecular Partners on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Molecular Partners

Molecular Partners AG, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops designed ankyrin repeat proteins therapeutics for the treatment of oncology and virology diseases in Switzerland. The company develops MP0317, a CD40 agonist designed to activate immune cells within the tumor microenvironment by anchoring to fibroblast activation protein that is in Phase I clinical trial; and MP0533, a novel tetra-specific T cell-engaging DARPin for acute myeloid leukemia. It also develops Switch-DARPin platform, a multispecific cKIT x CD16a x CD47 Switch-DARPin program for targeted and conditional immune cell activation; and Radio-DARPin Therapy (RDT) platform, a delivery system for effective and selective delivery of radioactive payloads to solid tumors. It has license and research collaboration agreements with Novartis Pharma AG to develop DARPin-conjugated radioligand therapies; and collaboration agreement with Orano Med SAS to develop novel Radio-DARPin therapeutics. Molecular Partners AG was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Schlieren, Switzerland.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical-stage precision medicines company. It engages in transforming the drug discovery process with an initial focus on enhancing small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications. The company’s lead product candidates include RLY-4008, an oral small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), which is in a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic FGFR2-altered solid tumors; RLY-2608, a lead mutant-PI3Ka inhibitor program that targets phosphoinostide 3 kinase alpha; and Migoprotafib (GDC-1971), an oral, small molecule, potent and selective inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 that binds and stabilizes Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP2) as a monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors. In addition, it has collaboration and license agreements with D. E. Shaw Research, LLC to research certain biological targets through the use of D. E. Shaw Research computational modeling capabilities focused on analysis of protein motion to develop and commercialize compounds and products directed to such targets; and Genentech, Inc. for the development and commercialization of GDC-1971. The company was formerly known as Allostery, Inc. and changed its name to Relay Therapeutics, Inc. in December 2015. Relay Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.