Head to Head Review: AbCellera Biologics (NASDAQ:ABCL) & HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX)

AbCellera Biologics (NASDAQ:ABCL) and HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for AbCellera Biologics and HilleVax, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AbCellera Biologics	0	1	5	0	2.83
HilleVax	0	6	0	0	2.00

AbCellera Biologics presently has a consensus price target of $14.20, indicating a potential upside of 463.49%. HilleVax has a consensus price target of $9.20, indicating a potential upside of 411.11%. Given AbCellera Biologics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe AbCellera Biologics is more favorable than HilleVax.

Risk & Volatility

AbCellera Biologics has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HilleVax has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.4% of AbCellera Biologics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of HilleVax shares are held by institutional investors. 32.5% of AbCellera Biologics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 71.1% of HilleVax shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares AbCellera Biologics and HilleVax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AbCellera Biologics	-463.77%	-13.40%	-10.44%
HilleVax	N/A	-62.01%	-47.99%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares AbCellera Biologics and HilleVax”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AbCellera Biologics	$33.05 million	22.42	-$146.40 million	($0.52)	-4.85
HilleVax	N/A	N/A	-$123.57 million	($3.30)	-0.55

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

Summary

AbCellera Biologics beats HilleVax on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AbCellera Biologics

AbCellera Biologics Inc. builds an engine for antibody drug discovery and development. Its engine discovers antibodies from natural immune responses, which are pre-enriched for antibodies. The company’s preclinical products are ABCL635 for metabolic and endocrine conditions; and ABCL575 for atopic dermatitis. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company; a research collaboration with Confo Therapeutics for the discovery of therapeutic antibody candidates targeting two undisclosed GPCR targets; and strategic collaboration with Biogen Inc. to discover therapeutic antibodies for neurological conditions, as well as collaboration with Viking Global Investors and ArrowMark Partners. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines in the United States. It develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus infection. The company was formerly known as MokshaCo, Inc. and changed its name to HilleVax, Inc. in February 2021. HilleVax, Inc. was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.