Reviewing Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Organovo (NASDAQ:ONVO)

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Organovo (NASDAQ:ONVO) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.2% of Organovo shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Organovo shares are owned by 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.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$169.58 million	2.99	-$109.78 million	($0.17)	-36.71
Organovo	$122,000.00	27.33	-$14.67 million	($10.20)	-0.19

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

Volatility & Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Organovo has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-4.35%	-3.93%	-1.42%
Organovo	-10,151.64%	-346.26%	-187.53%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Valneva and Organovo, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	0	0	2	0	3.00
Organovo	0	0	0	0	0.00

Valneva presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 156.41%. Given Valneva’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Valneva is more favorable than Organovo.

Summary

Valneva beats Organovo on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Organovo

Organovo Holdings, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on developing 3D tissues that recapitulate key aspects of human disease. Its 3D human tissue platform includes its proprietary NovoGen Bioprinters, which are automated devices that enable the fabrication of 3D living tissues comprised mammalian cells; and related technologies for preparing bio-inks and bioprinting multicellular tissues with complex architecture. The company offers ExVive 3D bioprinted human liver tissue with distinct hepatocellular and non-parenchymal cell compartments. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.