Contrasting Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) and Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS)

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) and Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Vaxcyte and Aligos Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vaxcyte	N/A	-30.07%	-28.08%
Aligos Therapeutics	-1,100.48%	-110.59%	-63.90%

Volatility and Risk

Vaxcyte has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aligos Therapeutics has a beta of 2.18, suggesting that its share price is 118% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.8% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 16.5% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Vaxcyte and Aligos Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vaxcyte	0	0	7	0	3.00
Aligos Therapeutics	0	0	1	0	3.00

Vaxcyte presently has a consensus price target of $147.50, suggesting a potential upside of 25.94%. Aligos Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $75.00, suggesting a potential upside of 636.74%. Given Aligos Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Aligos Therapeutics is more favorable than Vaxcyte.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vaxcyte and Aligos Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vaxcyte	N/A	N/A	-$402.27 million	($4.28)	-27.36
Aligos Therapeutics	$7.97 million	99.81	-$87.68 million	($1.28)	-7.95

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

Summary

Aligos Therapeutics beats Vaxcyte on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness. The company was formerly known as SutroVax, Inc. and changed its name to Vaxcyte, Inc. in May 2020. Vaxcyte, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Carlos, California.

About Aligos Therapeutics

Aligos Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapeutics to address unmet medical needs in viral and liver diseases. Its drug candidate, ALG-055009, a small molecule THR-ß agonist that is in the Phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The company also develops ALG-000184, a capsid assembly modulator, which is completed Phase 1b clinical trial to treat chronic hepatitis B (CHB); and ALG-125755, a siRNA drug candidate, which is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of CHB. In addition, it develops ALG-097558, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of coronavirus. The company has entered into license and research collaboration agreement with Merck to discover, research, optimize, and develop oligonucleotides directed against a NASH; license agreement with Emory University to provide hepatitis B virus capsid assembly modulator technology; license agreement with Luxna Biotech Co., Ltd. to develop and commercialize products containing oligonucleotides targeting hepatitis B virus genome; and research, licensing, and commercialization agreement with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven to develop coronavirus protease inhibitors. Aligos Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.