Reviewing Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) and Lexeo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LXEO)

Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) and Lexeo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LXEO) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Zoetis and Lexeo Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zoetis	1	7	5	0	2.31
Lexeo Therapeutics	1	0	8	1	2.90

Zoetis currently has a consensus target price of $152.91, suggesting a potential upside of 20.29%. Lexeo Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 203.03%. Given Lexeo Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Lexeo Therapeutics is more favorable than Zoetis.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.8% of Zoetis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.7% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Zoetis shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.3% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Zoetis has a beta of 0.96, indicating that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lexeo Therapeutics has a beta of 1.78, indicating that its stock price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Zoetis and Lexeo Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zoetis	$9.47 billion	5.67	$2.67 billion	$6.02	21.12
Lexeo Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$98.33 million	($2.70)	-2.32

Zoetis has higher revenue and earnings than Lexeo Therapeutics. Lexeo Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zoetis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Zoetis and Lexeo Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zoetis	28.24%	62.02%	19.24%
Lexeo Therapeutics	N/A	-90.49%	-70.86%

Summary

Zoetis beats Lexeo Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zoetis

Zoetis Inc. engages in the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of animal health medicines, vaccines, and diagnostic products and services in the United States and internationally. The company commercializes products primarily across species, including livestock, such as cattle, swine, poultry, fish, and sheep and others; and companion animals comprising dogs, cats, and horses. It also offers parasiticides, vaccines, dermatology, other pharmaceutical, anti-infectives, animal health diagnostics, and medicated feed additives. In addition, the company provides animal health diagnostics, including point-of-care diagnostic products, instruments and reagents, rapid immunoassay tests, reference laboratory kits and services, and blood glucose monitors; and other non-pharmaceutical products, which include nutritionals, as well as products and services in biodevices, genetic tests, and precision animal health. It markets its products to veterinarians, livestock producers, and pet owners. The company has collaboration Blacksmith Medicines, Inc. to discover and develop novel antibiotics for animal health. Zoetis Inc. was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey.

About Lexeo Therapeutics

Lexeo Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical stage genetic medicine company that focuses on hereditary and acquired diseases. The company develops LX2006, which is an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia (FA) cardiomyopathy; LX2020, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of plakophilin-2 arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy; LX2021, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of DSP cardiomyopathy associated with it; and LX2022, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM caused by TNNI3 gene. It also develops LX1001, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1020, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1021 for the treatment of APOE4 homozygotes; and LX1004 for the treatment of CLN2 Batten disease. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in New York, New York.