enGene (NASDAQ:ENGN) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Critical Analysis

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and enGene (NASDAQ:ENGN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its stock price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, enGene has a beta of -0.38, indicating that its stock price is 138% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Valneva and enGene’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%
enGene	N/A	-16.69%	-14.27%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.2% of enGene shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.7% of enGene shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Valneva and enGene”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$169.58 million	3.25	-$109.78 million	($0.17)	-39.94
enGene	N/A	N/A	-$55.14 million	($1.52)	-2.63

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Valneva and enGene, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	0	0	2	0	3.00
enGene	0	1	7	1	3.00

Valneva presently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 135.64%. enGene has a consensus price target of $24.13, suggesting a potential upside of 503.13%. Given enGene’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe enGene is more favorable than Valneva.

Summary

enGene beats Valneva on 7 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 enGene

enGene Holdings Inc., through its subsidiary enGene, Inc., operates as a clinical-stage biotechnology company that develops genetic medicines through the delivery of therapeutics to mucosal tissues and other organs. Its lead product candidate is EG-70 (detalimogene voraplasmid), which is a non-viral immunotherapy to treat non-muscle invasive bladder cancer patients with carcinoma-in-situ (Cis), who are unresponsive to treatment with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin. The company was founded in 2023 and is based in Saint-Laurent, Canada.