Analyzing Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL) & Adverum Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADVM)

Adverum Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADVM) and Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and dividends.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Adverum Biotechnologies and Vigil Neuroscience”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adverum Biotechnologies	$3.60 million	47.34	-$117.17 million	($10.20)	-0.80
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	N/A	-$82.64 million	($2.12)	-1.82

Vigil Neuroscience has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Adverum Biotechnologies. Vigil Neuroscience is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Adverum Biotechnologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

48.2% of Adverum Biotechnologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.6% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of Adverum Biotechnologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.0% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Adverum Biotechnologies and Vigil Neuroscience, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adverum Biotechnologies	0	1	5	0	2.83
Vigil Neuroscience	1	0	4	0	2.60

Adverum Biotechnologies currently has a consensus price target of $28.17, indicating a potential upside of 243.08%. Vigil Neuroscience has a consensus price target of $16.60, indicating a potential upside of 330.05%. Given Vigil Neuroscience’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vigil Neuroscience is more favorable than Adverum Biotechnologies.

Risk and Volatility

Adverum Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vigil Neuroscience has a beta of 1.95, suggesting that its share price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Adverum Biotechnologies and Vigil Neuroscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adverum Biotechnologies	N/A	-74.45%	-44.81%
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	-76.02%	-62.85%

About Adverum Biotechnologies

Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., a clinical-stage company, develops gene therapy product candidates to treat ocular diseases. Its lead product candidate is ixoberogene soroparvovec (ADVM-022), a single intravitreal injection gene therapy candidate used for the treatment of patients with wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema which is in phase 2 clinical trials. The company is developing ADVM-062 (AAV.7m8-L-opsin), a novel gene therapy product candidate for the treatment of blue cone monochromacy via a single IVT injection. Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. has license and collaboration agreements with University of California; GenSight Biologics; Lexeo Therapeutics; and Virovek, Inc. The company was formerly known as Avalanche Biotechnologies, Inc. and changed its name to Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. in May 2016. Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.

About Vigil Neuroscience

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing treatments for rare and common neurodegenerative diseases by restoring the vigilance of microglia, the sentinel immune cells of the brain. Its lead candidate is VGL101(Iluzanebart), a human monoclonal antibody agonist targeting human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 and is in a Phase 2 trial in patients with adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease. The company is also developing VG-3927, an orally-available small molecule TREM2 agonist to treat common neurodegenerative diseases associated with microglial dysfunction, with an initial focus on Alzheimer’s disease in genetically defined subpopulations, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial. It has license agreement with Amgen Inc. to commercially develop, manufacture, use, distribute, and sell therapeutic products containing compounds that bind to TREM2. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.