Critical Contrast: Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) versus Oncocyte (NASDAQ:IMDX)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Oncocyte and Valneva, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oncocyte	1	0	2	0	2.33
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67

Oncocyte presently has a consensus target price of $10.50, indicating a potential upside of 325.10%. Valneva has a consensus target price of $9.30, indicating a potential upside of 58.43%. Given Oncocyte’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Oncocyte is more favorable than Valneva.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oncocyte	-2,955.63%	N/A	-107.52%
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.3% of Oncocyte shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Oncocyte shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Oncocyte has a beta of 1.9, indicating that its stock price is 90% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oncocyte and Valneva”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oncocyte	$4.05 million	19.96	-$50.22 million	($1.49)	-1.66
Valneva	$197.56 million	2.83	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.78

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

Summary

Oncocyte beats Valneva on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oncocyte

Oncocyte Corporation is a molecular diagnostics company focused on developing tests that support cancer diagnosis, treatment decisions, and transplant monitoring. Its technologies are designed to help physicians assess disease characteristics and make more informed clinical decisions. The company has developed oncology products including DetermaDx, a genomic test intended to help evaluate the malignancy risk of lung nodules, and DetermaRx, which is designed to identify lung cancer patients who may face a higher risk of recurrence.

About Valneva

Valneva is a specialty vaccine company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing vaccines for infectious diseases. Founded in 2013 through the combination of Vivalis and Intercell, the company is headquartered in Saint-Herblain, France, and serves markets in Europe, North America and other regions through direct operations and commercial partners. Its marketed vaccines include IXIARO, for prevention of Japanese encephalitis, and DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for cholera. Valneva also developed IXCHIQ, a vaccine to prevent disease caused by chikungunya virus, which has received regulatory authorization in the United States and Europe.