Critical Comparison: CytRx Corporation (CYTR) vs. OncoMed Pharmaceuticals (OMED)

CytRx Corporation (NASDAQ: CYTR) and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:OMED) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitabiliy, valuation and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CytRx Corporation and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CytRx Corporation	$200,000.00	623.42	-$49.29 million	($0.56)	-1.46
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals	$25.02 million	5.10	-$97.14 million	($2.89)	-1.17

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

Volatility and Risk

CytRx Corporation has a beta of 2.32, suggesting that its stock price is 132% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OncoMed Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 2.9, suggesting that its stock price is 190% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for CytRx Corporation and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CytRx Corporation	0	0	3	0	3.00
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals	0	6	2	0	2.25

CytRx Corporation currently has a consensus target price of $3.50, indicating a potential upside of 326.83%. OncoMed Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $7.71, indicating a potential upside of 127.56%. Given CytRx Corporation’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe CytRx Corporation is more favorable than OncoMed Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares CytRx Corporation and OncoMed Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CytRx Corporation	N/A	-255.43%	-88.67%
OncoMed Pharmaceuticals	-393.74%	N/A	-52.89%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.4% of CytRx Corporation shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.5% of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 7.5% of CytRx Corporation shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.8% of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

CytRx Corporation beats OncoMed Pharmaceuticals on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

CytRx Corporation Company Profile

CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company specializing in oncology. The Company is focused on the clinical development of aldoxorubicin, its modified version of the chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin. It is engaged in Phase III trials for aldoxorubicin as a therapy for patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS) whose tumors have progressed after treatment with chemotherapy. It is also involved in evaluating aldoxorubicin in a Phase IIb clinical trial in small cell lung cancer; a Phase II clinical trial in human immunodeficiency virus-related Kaposi’s sarcoma; a Phase II clinical trial in patients with late-stage glioblastoma (brain cancer); a Phase Ib trial in combination with ifosfamide in patients with STS, and a Phase Ib trial in combination with gemcitabine in subjects with metastatic solid tumors. It is engaged in the pre-clinical development for DK049, an anti-cancer drug conjugate that utilizes its Linker Activated Drug Release (LADR) technology.

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OncoMed) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on discovering and developing therapeutics that address the fundamental biology driving cancer’s growth, resistance, recurrence and metastasis. The Company’s therapeutic candidates and preclinical programs include Demcizumab (Anti-DLL4, OMP-21M18), Tarextumab (Anti-Notch2/3, OMP-59R5), Vantictumab (anti-Fzd7, OMP-18R5), Ipafricept (Fzd8-Fc, OMP-54F28), Brontictuzumab (Anti-Notch1, OMP-52M51), Navicixizumab (Anti-DLL4/VEGF Bispecific, OMP-305B83), Anti-RSPO3 (OMP-131R10), Anti-TIGIT (OMP-313M32) and GITRL-Fc trimer (OMP-336B11). Demcizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits Delta-like Ligand 4 (DLL4) in the Notch signaling pathway. Tarextumab is a human monoclonal antibody that binds to both the Notch2 and Notch3 receptors.