Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN – Get Free Report) and Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and risk.
Profitability
This table compares Valneva and Ascendis Pharma A/S’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Valneva | -110.33% | -153.20% | -39.50% |
| Ascendis Pharma A/S | 70.99% | 32.54% | 7.71% |
Volatility and Risk
Valneva has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Valneva and Ascendis Pharma A/S, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Valneva | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.67 |
| Ascendis Pharma A/S | 0 | 1 | 18 | 1 | 3.00 |
Valneva presently has a consensus target price of $9.30, suggesting a potential upside of 76.81%. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus target price of $309.26, suggesting a potential upside of 27.08%. Given Valneva’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Valneva is more favorable than Ascendis Pharma A/S.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 40.0% of Ascendis Pharma A/S shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Valneva and Ascendis Pharma A/S”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Valneva | $142.94 million | 3.49 | -$130.33 million | ($2.11) | -2.49 |
| Ascendis Pharma A/S | $814.57 million | 18.64 | -$258.00 million | $12.89 | 18.88 |
Valneva has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ascendis Pharma A/S. Valneva is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ascendis Pharma A/S, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Ascendis Pharma A/S beats Valneva on 11 of the 15 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 Ascendis Pharma A/S
Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Hellerup, Denmark.
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