Financial Comparison: Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) vs. Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCAQ)

Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) and Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCAQ) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Denali Therapeutics and Genocea Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Denali Therapeutics	0	3	8	0	2.73
Genocea Biosciences	0	0	0	0	0.00

Denali Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $38.90, suggesting a potential upside of 55.60%. Given Denali Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Denali Therapeutics is more favorable than Genocea Biosciences.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Denali Therapeutics and Genocea Biosciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Denali Therapeutics	$330.53 million	10.89	-$145.22 million	($2.76)	-9.06
Genocea Biosciences	$1.64 million	N/A	-$33.20 million	N/A	N/A

Genocea Biosciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Denali Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Denali Therapeutics and Genocea Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Denali Therapeutics	N/A	-32.94%	-30.04%
Genocea Biosciences	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.4, meaning that its stock price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Genocea Biosciences has a beta of 2.47, meaning that its stock price is 147% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Denali Therapeutics beats Genocea Biosciences on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson’s disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Genocea Biosciences

Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops novel cancer immunotherapies. The company uses its proprietary discovery platform, ATLAS, which profiles each patient's CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune responses to every target or antigen identified by next-generation sequencing of that patient's tumor. Its products include GEN-011, an adoptive T cell therapy, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors; and GEN-009, a neoantigen vaccine candidate, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials that delivers adjuvanted synthetic long peptides spanning ATLAS-identified anti-tumor neoantigens. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On July 5, 2022, Genocea Biosciences, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plan was later approved as Chapter 11 liquidation on May 11, 2023.