Contrasting Zymergen (ZY) & Its Competitors

Zymergen (NASDAQ:ZY – Get Rating) is one of 40 public companies in the “Commercial physical research” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Zymergen to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Zymergen and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zymergen	$16.74 million	-$361.79 million	-0.19
Zymergen Competitors	$2.79 billion	$101.13 million	21.51

Zymergen’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Zymergen. Zymergen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

48.8% of Zymergen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.5% of shares of all “Commercial physical research” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.6% of shares of all “Commercial physical research” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Zymergen and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zymergen	-2,160.81%	-213.99%	-64.50%
Zymergen Competitors	-255.16%	-16.00%	-2.18%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Zymergen and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zymergen	3	5	0	0	1.63
Zymergen Competitors	100	745	1293	30	2.58

Zymergen currently has a consensus target price of $6.75, suggesting a potential upside of 279.21%. As a group, “Commercial physical research” companies have a potential upside of 31.88%. Given Zymergen’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Zymergen is more favorable than its peers.

Summary

Zymergen peers beat Zymergen on 11 of the 12 factors compared.

Zymergen Company Profile (Get Rating)

Zymergen Inc. design, develop, and commercialize microbes, molecules, and materials. It offers an automation solution comprising reconfigurable automation carts, a modular hardware building blocks that allow for assembly of work cells customized for the particular needs of a lab; and automation control software, a cloud-based software used to control integrated automation systems. It serves electronics, packaging, healthcare, agriculture, and other industries. Zymergen Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Emeryville, California.