Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) vs. Varex Imaging (NASDAQ:VREX) Head to Head Review

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

Volatility & Risk

Varex Imaging has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 1.8, meaning that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Varex Imaging	$844.60 million	0.53	-$70.30 million	($1.64)	-6.54
Valneva	$197.56 million	2.69	-$130.33 million	($1.58)	-3.91

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Varex Imaging and Valneva, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Varex Imaging	1	1	2	0	2.25
Valneva	1	0	3	0	2.50

Varex Imaging currently has a consensus target price of $16.17, suggesting a potential upside of 50.67%. Valneva has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 143.11%. Given Valneva’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Valneva is more favorable than Varex Imaging.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Varex Imaging shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Varex Imaging	-7.92%	8.43%	3.66%
Valneva	-67.64%	-76.81%	-26.33%

Summary

Valneva beats Varex Imaging on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Varex Imaging

Varex Imaging Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells X-ray imaging components. The company operates through two segments, Medical and Industrial. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services X-ray imaging components, comprising X-ray tubes, digital detectors and accessories, ionization chambers, high voltage connectors, image-processing software and workstations, 3D reconstruction software, computer-aided diagnostic software, collimators, automatic exposure control devices, generators, and heat exchangers. This segment's products are used in a range of applications, including CT, mammography, oncology, cardiac, surgery, dental, and other diagnostic radiography uses. The Industrial segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services Linatron X-ray linear accelerators, X-ray tubes, digital detectors, high voltage connectors, and coolers for use in security and inspection applications, such as baggage screening at airports, cargo screening at ports and borders, and nondestructive testing, irradiation, and inspection in various applications. The company sells its products through imaging system original equipment manufacturers, independent service companies, and distributors, as well as directly to end-users. It has operations in North America, South America, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, India, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Varex Imaging Corporation was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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.