Head to Head Review: Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE)

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and bluebird bio (NASDAQ:BLUE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership and valuation.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-4.35%	-3.93%	-1.42%
bluebird bio	-565.74%	-322.46%	-53.17%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Valneva and bluebird bio”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$165.52 million	3.65	-$109.78 million	($0.13)	-57.23
bluebird bio	$29.50 million	1.34	-$211.91 million	($37.40)	-0.11

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.4% of bluebird bio shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of bluebird bio shares are held by 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Valneva and bluebird bio, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	0	0	2	0	3.00
bluebird bio	2	5	2	0	2.00

Valneva presently has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 128.49%. bluebird bio has a consensus target price of $49.14, indicating a potential upside of 1,104.48%. Given bluebird bio’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe bluebird bio is more favorable than Valneva.

Volatility & Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.98, meaning that its share price is 98% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, bluebird bio has a beta of 0.68, meaning that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Valneva beats bluebird bio on 10 of the 13 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 bluebird bio

bluebird bio, Inc., a biotechnology company, researches, develops, and commercializes gene therapies for severe genetic diseases. Its product candidates for severe genetic diseases include ZYNTEGLO (betibeglogene autotemcel) for the treatment of transfusion-dependent ß-thalassemia; lovotibeglogene autotemcel for the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD); and SKYSONA (elivaldogene autotemcel) to treat cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy. The company’s clinical development programs include HGB-205, HGB-206, and HGB-210 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of lovo-cel in the treatment of patients with SCD; and HGB-204, HGB-205, HGB-207, and HGB-212 to evaluate the safety and efficacy of beti-cel in the treatment of patients with ß-thalassemia. It has license agreement with Orchard Therapeutics Limited. The company was formerly known as Genetix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and changed its name to bluebird bio, Inc. in September 2010. bluebird bio, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts.