Head-To-Head Analysis: Oncocyte (NASDAQ:IMDX) and WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) and Oncocyte (NASDAQ:IMDX) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares WAVE Life Sciences and Oncocyte”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WAVE Life Sciences	$42.73 million	22.41	-$204.38 million	($1.09)	-4.46
Oncocyte	$4.05 million	33.37	-$50.22 million	($1.49)	-2.77

Oncocyte has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WAVE Life Sciences. WAVE Life Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Oncocyte, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for WAVE Life Sciences and Oncocyte, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WAVE Life Sciences	1	1	14	0	2.81
Oncocyte	1	0	2	0	2.33

WAVE Life Sciences presently has a consensus target price of $22.31, suggesting a potential upside of 359.10%. Oncocyte has a consensus target price of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 154.24%. Given WAVE Life Sciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe WAVE Life Sciences is more favorable than Oncocyte.

Risk and Volatility

WAVE Life Sciences has a beta of -1.3, suggesting that its stock price is 230% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Oncocyte has a beta of 1.8, suggesting that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares WAVE Life Sciences and Oncocyte’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WAVE Life Sciences	-309.73%	-50.36%	-40.06%
Oncocyte	-2,955.63%	N/A	-107.52%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

89.7% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.3% of Oncocyte shares are held by institutional investors. 24.3% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Oncocyte shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

WAVE Life Sciences beats Oncocyte on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WAVE Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders. It is developing WVE-006, a RNA editing oligonucleotide for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; siRNA clinical candidate for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders; WVE-N531, a exon skipping oligonucleotide for the treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy; and WVE-003, an antisense silencing oligonucleotide for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD). The company has collaboration agreements with GlaxoSmithKline for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for disorders of the Central Nervous System; and Asuragen, Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of companion diagnostics for investigational allele-selective therapeutic programs targeting HD. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Singapore.

About Oncocyte

OncoCyte Corporation, a molecular diagnostics company, researches, develops, and commercializes proprietary laboratory-developed tests for the detection of cancer in the United States and internationally. The company offers DetermaRx, a molecular test for early-stage adenocarcinoma of the lung; and DetermaIO, a proprietary gene expression assay. It also provides biomarker discovery testing, assay design and development, and clinical trial support services, as well as various biomarker tests for pharmaceutical companies. The company has a collaboration agreement with Life Technologies Corporation to develop and collaborate in the commercialization of Oncomine Comprehensive Assay Plus and Determa IO assay for use with Ion Torrent Genexus integrated sequencer and purification system. OncoCyte Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Irvine, California.