Head to Head Review: Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) versus Oncocyte (NASDAQ:IMDX)

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

Profitability

This table compares Oncocyte and Valneva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oncocyte	-2,955.63%	N/A	-107.52%
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%

Risk and Volatility

Oncocyte has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Oncocyte and Valneva, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oncocyte	1	0	2	0	2.33
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67

Oncocyte currently has a consensus price target of $10.50, suggesting a potential upside of 329.27%. Valneva has a consensus price target of $9.30, suggesting a potential upside of 64.89%. Given Oncocyte’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Oncocyte is more favorable than Valneva.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

55.3% of Oncocyte shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Oncocyte shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oncocyte and Valneva”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oncocyte	$1.67 million	47.93	-$50.22 million	($1.49)	-1.64
Valneva	$142.94 million	3.74	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.67

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

Summary

Oncocyte beats Valneva on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Valneva

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine. The company also develops VLA15, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease; VLA1553, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against the chikungunya virus; VLA1554, a vaccine candidate targeting human metapneumovirus; and VLA2112, a vaccine candidate to treat patients with epstein-barr virus. It sells its products in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Nordics, the United Kingdom, France, rest of European countries, and internationally. Valneva SE has collaborations with Pfizer, Inc. to co-develop and commercialize its Lyme disease vaccine; and Instituto Butantan for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of single-shot chikungunya vaccine. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Saint-Herblain, France.