Comparing Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) and Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL)

Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) and Exelixis (NASDAQ:EXEL) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

61.5% of Agenus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.3% of Exelixis shares are held by institutional investors. 4.6% of Agenus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Exelixis shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Agenus and Exelixis, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Agenus	0	5	1	0	2.17
Exelixis	2	6	12	0	2.50

Agenus presently has a consensus price target of $8.75, indicating a potential upside of 320.67%. Exelixis has a consensus price target of $37.59, indicating a potential upside of 3.86%. Given Agenus’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Agenus is more favorable than Exelixis.

Profitability

This table compares Agenus and Exelixis’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Agenus	-145.89%	N/A	-85.68%
Exelixis	24.04%	23.52%	17.95%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Agenus and Exelixis”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Agenus	$103.46 million	0.51	-$245.76 million	($10.68)	-0.19
Exelixis	$2.17 billion	4.67	$521.27 million	$1.77	20.45

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

Volatility and Risk

Agenus has a beta of 1.58, suggesting that its share price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Exelixis has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Exelixis beats Agenus on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Agenus

Agenus Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops immuno-oncology products in the United States and internationally. The company offers Retrocyte Display, an antibody expression platform for the identification of fully human and humanized monoclonal antibodies; and display technologies. It develops QS-21 Stimulon adjuvant, a saponin-based vaccine adjuvant. The company also develops Balstilimab, an anti-PD-1 antagonist that has completed Phase II clinical trial to treat second line cervical cancer; AGEN1181, an antigen 4 (CTLA-4) blocking antibody that is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic cancer and and melanoma; AGEN2373, a CD137 monospecific antibody that is in Phase 1b clinical trial; AGEN1423, a CD73/TGFß TRAP antibody; AGEN1571, an ILT2 monospecific antibody that is in Phase 1 clinical trial; and BMS-986442, a TIGIT bispecific antibodies. In addition, it develops INCAGN1876, a GITR agonist; INCAGN2390, a TIM-3 monospecific antibody; INCAGN2385, a LAG-3 monospecific antibody; MK-4830, a monospecific antibody targeting ILT4 that is in Phase 2 clinical trial; UGN-301, a zalifrelimab intravesical solution for the treatment of cancers of the urinary tract that is in a Phase 1 clinical trial; and AGEN1884, a first-generation anti-CTLA-4 monospecific antibody. The company operates under Agenus, MiNK, Prophage, Retrocyte Display, and Stimulon trademarks. It has collaborations with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Incyte Corporation, Merck Sharpe & Dohme, and Gilead Sciences, Inc. The company was formerly known as Antigenics Inc. and changed its name to Agenus Inc. in January 2011. Agenus Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.

About Exelixis

Exelixis, Inc., an oncology company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of new medicines for difficult-to-treat cancers in the United States. The company offers CABOMETYX tablets for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy; and COMETRIQ capsules for the treatment of progressive and metastatic medullary thyroid cancer. Its CABOMETYX and COMETRIQ are derived from cabozantinib, an inhibitor of multiple tyrosine kinases, including MET, AXL, RET, and VEGF receptors. The company also offers COTELLIC, an inhibitor of MEK as a combination regimen to treat specific forms of advanced melanoma; and MINNEBRO, an oral non-steroidal selective blocker of the mineralocorticoid receptor for the treatment of hypertension in Japan. It develops zanzalintinib, a novel, potent, next-generation oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that targets VEGF receptors, MET and the TAM kinases (TYRO3, AXL and MER); and XB002, a next-generation tissue factor (TF)-targeting ADC, administered via intravenous infusion and composed of a human monoclonal antibody (mAb) against TF that is conjugated to an auristatin-based microtubulin inhibitor (MTI) payload. It has research collaborations and license agreements with Ipsen Pharma SAS; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.; Redwood Bioscience, Inc.; R.P. Scherer Technologies, LLC; Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc.; NBE Therapeutics AG; Aurigene Discovery Technologies Limited; Iconic Therapeutics, Inc.; Invenra, Inc.; StemSynergy Therapeutics, Inc.; Genentech, Inc.; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; and Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, as well as clinical development agreement with Sairopa B.V. for ADU-1805. The company was formerly known as Exelixis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and changed its name to Exelixis, Inc. in February 2000. Exelixis, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in Alameda, California.