Comparing Maravai LifeSciences (NASDAQ:MRVI) and Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY)

Maravai LifeSciences (NASDAQ:MRVI) and Merck KGaA (OTCMKTS:MKKGY) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Maravai LifeSciences has a beta of 0.02, meaning that its stock price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merck KGaA has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Maravai LifeSciences and Merck KGaA”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Maravai LifeSciences	$276.92 million	4.76	-$119.03 million	($1.64)	-3.18
Merck KGaA	$22.72 billion	0.84	$3.06 billion	$1.62	18.23

Merck KGaA has higher revenue and earnings than Maravai LifeSciences. Maravai LifeSciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Merck KGaA, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Maravai LifeSciences and Merck KGaA, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Maravai LifeSciences	0	5	6	0	2.55
Merck KGaA	0	1	1	0	2.50

Maravai LifeSciences presently has a consensus price target of $10.33, suggesting a potential upside of 97.96%. Given Maravai LifeSciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Maravai LifeSciences is more favorable than Merck KGaA.

Profitability

This table compares Maravai LifeSciences and Merck KGaA’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Maravai LifeSciences	-81.13%	-6.61%	-3.45%
Merck KGaA	12.89%	10.51%	5.93%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

50.3% of Maravai LifeSciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.1% of Merck KGaA shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Maravai LifeSciences shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Merck KGaA beats Maravai LifeSciences on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Maravai LifeSciences

Maravai LifeSciences Holdings, Inc., a life sciences company, provides products to enable the development of drug therapies, diagnostics, novel vaccines, and support research on human diseases worldwide. The company’s products address the key phases of biopharmaceutical development and include nucleic acids for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, antibody-based products to detect impurities during the production of biopharmaceutical products, and products to detect the expression of proteins in tissues of various species. It operates in two segments, Nucleic Acid Production and Biologics Safety Testing. The Nucleic Acid Production segment manufactures and sells products for use in the fields of gene therapy, vaccines, nucleoside chemistry, oligonucleotide therapy, and molecular diagnostics, including reagents used in the chemical synthesis, modification, labelling, and purification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). This segment also offers messenger RNA, oligonucleotides, and oligonucleotide building blocks, as well as custom enzyme development and manufacturing and CleanCap capping technology. The Biologics Safety Testing segment sells analytical products for use in biologic manufacturing process development, including custom product-specific development antibody, and assay development services. This segment also provides HCP ELISA kits, other bioprocess impurity and contaminant ELISA kits, ancillary reagents, viral clearance prediction kits, and custom services. The company serves biopharmaceutical companies, and other biopharmaceutical and life sciences research companies; and academic research institutions and in vitro diagnostics companies. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Merck KGaA

Merck KGaA operates as a science and technology company in Germany. It operates through Life Science, Healthcare, and Electronics segments. The company’s Life Science segment offers tools, chemicals, and equipment for academic labs, biotech, and pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as industrial sector. This segment provides drug manufacturers with process development expertise and technologies, such as continuous bioprocessing; testing kits and services; reagents and services; testing solutions that analyze air, water, and soil; and testing and tools, as well as products that help test nutritional value and identify quality inconsistencies. Its Healthcare segment discovers, develops, manufacturers, and markets prescription drugs and biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of oncology, neurology and immunology, fertility, endocrinology, as well as cardiovascular, diabetes, thyroid disorders, and multiple sclerosis; general medicines; and injection device and disease monitoring software. The Electronics segment supplies materials for the semiconductor and display industries and surface design, such as delivery systems and services, as well as surface solutions, including cosmetics, effect pigments, and functional solutions. In addition, it has in-licensing agreement with Debiopharm International SA for developing and commercializing drug candidates for the treatment of head and neck cancer; Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. for developing, manufacturing, and commercializing drug candidates for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer; and Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. for developing and commercializing of drug candidates for the treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor, as well as license and collaboration agreement with Merck KGaA to discover two targeted protein degraders against critical oncogenic proteins. The company was founded in 1668 and is headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. Merck KGaA operates as a subsidiary of E. Merck KGaA.