Analyzing Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT) & Molecular Partners (NASDAQ:MOLN)

Molecular Partners (NASDAQ:MOLN) and Vaxart (NASDAQ:VXRT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Molecular Partners and Vaxart”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Molecular Partners	$7.84 million	28.37	-$69.04 million	($2.15)	-2.56
Vaxart	$7.38 million	18.13	-$82.46 million	($0.41)	-1.43

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Molecular Partners and Vaxart, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Molecular Partners	0	1	0	1	3.00
Vaxart	0	0	2	0	3.00

Molecular Partners currently has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential downside of 18.39%. Vaxart has a consensus price target of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 410.03%. Given Vaxart’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vaxart is more favorable than Molecular Partners.

Volatility and Risk

Molecular Partners has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Vaxart has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Molecular Partners and Vaxart’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Molecular Partners	-1,043.01%	-39.31%	-35.46%
Vaxart	-431.61%	-110.46%	-62.78%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.6% of Molecular Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.1% of Vaxart shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.9% of Molecular Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Vaxart shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Molecular Partners beats Vaxart on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Molecular Partners

Molecular Partners AG, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops designed ankyrin repeat proteins therapeutics for the treatment of oncology and virology diseases in Switzerland. The company develops MP0317, a CD40 agonist designed to activate immune cells within the tumor microenvironment by anchoring to fibroblast activation protein that is in Phase I clinical trial; and MP0533, a novel tetra-specific T cell-engaging DARPin for acute myeloid leukemia. It also develops Switch-DARPin platform, a multispecific cKIT x CD16a x CD47 Switch-DARPin program for targeted and conditional immune cell activation; and Radio-DARPin Therapy (RDT) platform, a delivery system for effective and selective delivery of radioactive payloads to solid tumors. It has license and research collaboration agreements with Novartis Pharma AG to develop DARPin-conjugated radioligand therapies; and collaboration agreement with Orano Med SAS to develop novel Radio-DARPin therapeutics. Molecular Partners AG was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Schlieren, Switzerland.

About Vaxart

Vaxart, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops oral recombinant protein vaccines based on its proprietary oral vaccine platform. The company’s product pipeline includes norovirus vaccine, a bivalent oral tablet vaccine in Phase 2 clinical trial for the GI.1 and GII.4 norovirus strains; coronavirus vaccine, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial, for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection; seasonal influenza vaccine, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial, to treat H1 influenza infection; and human papillomavirus therapeutic vaccine, which is in preclinical stage, that targets HPV-16 and HPV-18 for cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions. It has a license agreement with Altesa Biosciences, Inc. to develop and commercialize Vapendavir, a capsid-binding broad-spectrum antiviral. Vaxart, Inc. is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.