Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM – Get Free Report) and Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR – Get Free Report) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Beam Therapeutics and Vir Biotechnology, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Beam Therapeutics | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2.71 |
| Vir Biotechnology | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 2.89 |
Beam Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $46.83, indicating a potential upside of 42.61%. Vir Biotechnology has a consensus target price of $20.38, indicating a potential upside of 122.68%. Given Vir Biotechnology’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vir Biotechnology is more favorable than Beam Therapeutics.
Risk & Volatility
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Beam Therapeutics and Vir Biotechnology”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Beam Therapeutics | $139.74 million | 24.18 | -$79.99 million | ($0.68) | -48.29 |
| Vir Biotechnology | $68.56 million | 22.51 | -$437.99 million | ($3.13) | -2.92 |
Beam Therapeutics has higher revenue and earnings than Vir Biotechnology. Beam Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vir Biotechnology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Beam Therapeutics and Vir Biotechnology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Beam Therapeutics | -39.66% | -29.00% | -22.61% |
| Vir Biotechnology | -638.88% | -53.31% | -41.76% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
99.7% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Vir Biotechnology shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Vir Biotechnology shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Beam Therapeutics beats Vir Biotechnology on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Beam Therapeutics
Beam Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a. The company has research collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc., focus on in vivo base editing programs for targets rare genetic diseases of the liver, muscle, and central nervous system; Apellis Pharmaceuticals to conduct preclinical research on target specific genes within the complement system in various organs, including the eye, liver, and brain; Verve Therapeutics, Inc., for cardiovascular disease treatments; Sana Biotechnology, Inc., to research, develop, and commercialize rights to CRISPR Cas12b for cell therapy programs; and Orbital Therapeutics design RNA for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of human disease. Beam Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About Vir Biotechnology
Vir Biotechnology, Inc., an immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. Its clinical development pipeline consists of product candidates targeting hepatitis delta virus (HDV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The company’s preclinical candidates include those targeting influenza A and B, coronavirus disease 2019, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (MPV), and human papillomavirus (HPV). The company has grant agreements with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health; an option and license agreement with Brii Biosciences Limited; a collaboration and license agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; license agreements with MedImmune, LLC; collaboration with WuXi Biologics (Hong Kong) Limited and Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd.; and a collaborative research agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals S.A, as well as license agreement with Sanofi for three clinical-stage masked T-cell engagers (TCEs) and exclusive use of the protease-cleavable masking platform for oncology and infectious diseases. It also has a manufacturing agreement with Samsung Biologics Co.,Ltd. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
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