Analyzing Grail (NASDAQ:GRAL) and Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL)

Grail (NASDAQ:GRAL) and Personalis (NASDAQ:PSNL) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Grail and Personalis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grail	N/A	N/A	N/A
Personalis	-104.52%	-66.07%	-41.34%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Grail and Personalis, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grail	0	3	0	0	2.00
Personalis	0	0	4	0	3.00

Grail presently has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential downside of 12.81%. Personalis has a consensus target price of $7.31, suggesting a potential upside of 27.17%. Given Personalis’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Personalis is more favorable than Grail.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.9% of Personalis shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Personalis shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Grail and Personalis”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grail	$117.67 million	5.24	N/A	N/A	N/A
Personalis	$87.49 million	4.64	-$108.30 million	($1.68)	-3.42

Grail has higher revenue and earnings than Personalis.

About Grail

GRAIL, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing technologies for early cancer detection. The company develops Galleri, a screening test for asymptomatic individuals over 50 years of age; and DAC, a diagnostic aid for cancer tests to accelerate diagnostic resolution for patients for whom there is a clinical suspicion of cancer. It is also developing minimal residual disease and other post-diagnostic tests. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is based in Menlo Park, California. GRAIL, Inc. operates as a former subsidiary of Illumina, Inc.

About Personalis

Personalis, Inc. develops and markets advanced cancer genomic tests and analytics primarily in the United States, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific. Its tests and analytics are used by pharmaceutical companies for translational research, biomarker discovery, and development of personalized cancer therapies, as well as advanced tests are used by physicians to detect cancer recurrence, monitor cancer evolution, and uncover insights for therapy selection. The company offers NeXT Personal, a tumor-informed liquid biopsy test for detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) and recurrence in cancer; and ImmunoID NeXT, a tissue-based test that combines whole exome (DNA) and whole transcriptome (RNA) sequencing data with advanced analytics to provide a multi-dimensional view of the tumor and the tumor microenvironment from a single sample. It also provides NeXT Personal Dx, a tumor-informed liquid biopsy test for detection of MRD and recurrence in cancer; and NeXT Dx, a comprehensive tumor profiling test that unlocks the entire exome (DNA) and transcriptome (RNA) with matched tumor-normal analysis. In addition, the company performs whole exome sequencing (WES) of cancer tissue and matched blood samples for diagnostic companies as an input to their products; and whole genome sequencing (WGS) on human samples for research projects, such as population sequencing initiatives, as well as offers sequencing and data analysis services to support population sequencing initiatives. Its customers include pharmaceutical companies, biopharmaceutical companies, diagnostics companies, universities, non-profits, government entities, and patients. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.