Financial Survey: AlloVir (NASDAQ:ALVR) versus Lexeo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LXEO)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Lexeo Therapeutics and AlloVir, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lexeo Therapeutics	0	0	5	1	3.17
AlloVir	0	0	0	0	0.00

Lexeo Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $23.80, suggesting a potential upside of 261.70%. Given Lexeo Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Lexeo Therapeutics is more favorable than AlloVir.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

60.7% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.1% of AlloVir shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of Lexeo Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.1% of AlloVir shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lexeo Therapeutics	$650,000.00	334.73	-$66.39 million	($3.16)	-2.08
AlloVir	N/A	N/A	-$190.42 million	($0.88)	-0.48

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

Profitability

This table compares Lexeo Therapeutics and AlloVir’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lexeo Therapeutics	N/A	-57.66%	-48.18%
AlloVir	N/A	-71.03%	-61.27%

Summary

Lexeo Therapeutics beats AlloVir on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lexeo Therapeutics

Lexeo Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a clinical stage genetic medicine company that focuses on hereditary and acquired diseases. The company develops LX2006, which is an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of Friedreich's ataxia (FA) cardiomyopathy; LX2020, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of plakophilin-2 arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy; LX2021, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of DSP cardiomyopathy associated with it; and LX2022, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM caused by TNNI3 gene. It also develops LX1001, an AAVrh10-based gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1020, a gene therapy candidate for the treatment of APOE4 homozygous; LX1021 for the treatment of APOE4 homozygotes; and LX1004 for the treatment of CLN2 Batten disease. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in New York, New York.

About AlloVir

Allovir, Inc., a clinical-stage cell therapy company, engages in the research and development of allogeneic, off-the-shelf multi-virus specific T cell (VST) therapies to prevent and treat devastating viral-associated diseases. The company's lead product is posoleucel, an allogeneic, off-the-shelf VST therapy, to treat BK virus, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, human herpesvirus 6, and JC virus. Its preclinical and clinical development product candidates include ALVR106 for the respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, parainfluenza virus, and human metapneumovirus; ALVR109 to treat SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19; ALVR107 for treating hepatitis B; and ALVR108. The company was formerly known as ViraCyte, Inc. and changed its name to Allovir, Inc. in May 2019. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Waltham, Massachusetts.