Head to Head Survey: Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) & Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS)

Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS) and Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aligos Therapeutics and Anavex Life Sciences”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aligos Therapeutics	$6.00 million	22.94	-$87.68 million	($13.32)	-2.88
Anavex Life Sciences	N/A	N/A	-$47.51 million	($0.50)	-16.94

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

60.4% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 31.5% of Anavex Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.0% of Anavex Life Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Aligos Therapeutics and Anavex Life Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aligos Therapeutics	-1,283.19%	-114.34%	-64.58%
Anavex Life Sciences	N/A	-30.64%	-28.23%

Volatility & Risk

Aligos Therapeutics has a beta of 2.73, meaning that its share price is 173% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Anavex Life Sciences has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Aligos Therapeutics and Anavex Life Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aligos Therapeutics	0	0	1	0	3.00
Anavex Life Sciences	0	0	2	1	3.33

Aligos Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 95.57%. Anavex Life Sciences has a consensus price target of $43.00, indicating a potential upside of 407.67%. Given Anavex Life Sciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Anavex Life Sciences is more favorable than Aligos Therapeutics.

Summary

Anavex Life Sciences beats Aligos Therapeutics on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aligos Therapeutics

Aligos Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs in viral and liver diseases. Its drug candidate, ALG-055009, a small molecule THR-ß agonist that is in the Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The company also develops ALG-000184, a capsid assembly modulator, which is completed Phase 1b clinical trial to treat chronic hepatitis B (CHB); and ALG-125755, a siRNA drug candidate, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of CHB. In addition, it develops ALG-097558, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of coronavirus. The company has entered into license and research collaboration agreement with Merck to discover, research, optimize, and develop oligonucleotides directed against a NASH; license agreement with Emory University to provide hepatitis B virus capsid assembly modulator technology; license agreement with Luxna Biotech Co., Ltd. to develop and commercialize products containing oligonucleotides targeting hepatitis B virus genome; and research, licensing, and commercialization agreement with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to develop coronavirus protease inhibitors. Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as other central nervous system diseases, including rare diseases, such as Rett syndrome, a rare severe neurological monogenic disorder; and infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, and Angelman syndrome. The company's drug candidate also comprises ANAVEX 3-71, which is in clinical trial for the treatment of schizophrenia, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. Its preclinical drug candidates include ANAVEX 1-41 for the treatment of depression, stroke, and neurogenerative disease; ANAVEX 1066 for the potential treatment of neuropathic and visceral pain; and ANAVEX 1037 to treat prostate and pancreatic cancer. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in New York, New York.