Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) and Aligos Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ALGS – Get Free Report) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.
Volatility & Risk
Moderna has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Aligos Therapeutics has a beta of 2.11, indicating that its share price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
75.3% of Moderna shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.4% of Aligos Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 15.7% of Moderna shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.8% of Aligos Therapeutics 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.
Valuation and Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Moderna | $6.85 billion | 2.16 | -$4.71 billion | ($5.82) | -6.60 |
| Aligos Therapeutics | $15.53 million | 4.55 | -$87.68 million | ($13.32) | -1.48 |
Aligos Therapeutics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Moderna. Moderna is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aligos Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Ratings
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Moderna and Aligos Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Moderna | 3 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 2.18 |
| Aligos Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Moderna currently has a consensus target price of $84.00, suggesting a potential upside of 118.74%. Aligos Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $75.00, suggesting a potential upside of 281.19%. Given Aligos Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Aligos Therapeutics is more favorable than Moderna.
Profitability
This table compares Moderna and Aligos Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Moderna | -43.77% | -17.68% | -13.35% |
| Aligos Therapeutics | -1,283.19% | -114.34% | -64.58% |
Summary
Moderna beats Aligos Therapeutics on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Moderna
Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines. The company also offers systemic secreted and cell surface therapeutics; cancer vaccines, such as personalized cancer, KRAS, and checkpoint vaccines; intratumoral immuno-oncology products; rare disease intracellular therapeutics; and inhaled pulmonary therapeutics. It has strategic alliances and collaborations with AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated; Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.; Metagenomi, Inc.; Carisma Therapeutics, Inc.; CytomX Therapeutics; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Institute for Life Changing Medicines; and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company was formerly known as Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Moderna, Inc. in August 2018. Moderna, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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.
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