Reviewing Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) & Immunocore (NASDAQ:IMCR)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) and Immunocore (NASDAQ:IMCR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vericel and Immunocore”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericel	$276.26 million	7.59	$16.52 million	$0.47	87.11
Immunocore	$430.77 million	3.84	-$35.51 million	($0.37)	-86.73

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

Volatility and Risk

Vericel has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Immunocore has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its share price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

84.5% of Immunocore shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Vericel shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of Immunocore 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.

Profitability

This table compares Vericel and Immunocore’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vericel	7.91%	6.91%	5.02%
Immunocore	-4.20%	-4.54%	-1.66%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Vericel and Immunocore, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericel	0	2	4	0	2.67
Immunocore	1	4	6	1	2.58

Vericel currently has a consensus price target of $57.20, suggesting a potential upside of 39.72%. Immunocore has a consensus price target of $56.38, suggesting a potential upside of 75.68%. Given Immunocore’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Immunocore is more favorable than Vericel.

Summary

Vericel beats Immunocore on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Immunocore

Immunocore Holdings plc, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, engages in the development of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. The company offers KIMMTRAK for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic uveal melanoma. It also develops other programs for oncology, including tebentafusp that is in Phase 2/3 clinical trial to treat advanced cutaneous melanoma. In addition, the company’s product pipeline comprises IMC-F106C, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial to treat first line advanced cutaneous melanoma; and in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in multiple tumor types, such as platinum resistant ovarian, non-small cell lung, and endometrial carcinoma. Further, it develops IMC-R117C, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat colorectal and gastrointestinal cancers; IMC-M113V, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat human immunosuppression virus; IMC-I109V, which is in a Phase I clinical trial in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus; IMC-T119C, which is in preclinical trial for multiple solid tumor cancers; IMC-P115C, which is in preclinical trial to treat multiple solid tumor cancers; and IMC-S118AI to treat type 1 diabetes and is in preclinical trial. Immunocore Holdings plc was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Abingdon, the United Kingdom.