Head to Head Contrast: Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) & Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:DVAX)

Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:DVAX) and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

Dynavax Technologies has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amgen has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Dynavax Technologies and Amgen, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dynavax Technologies	2	0	3	0	2.20
Amgen	1	10	10	1	2.50

Dynavax Technologies presently has a consensus price target of $24.33, suggesting a potential upside of 118.63%. Amgen has a consensus price target of $332.85, suggesting a potential upside of 0.41%. Given Dynavax Technologies’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dynavax Technologies is more favorable than Amgen.

Profitability

This table compares Dynavax Technologies and Amgen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dynavax Technologies	-13.13%	7.18%	4.08%
Amgen	19.47%	162.59%	13.18%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Dynavax Technologies and Amgen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dynavax Technologies	$277.25 million	4.71	$27.31 million	($0.37)	-30.08
Amgen	$33.42 billion	5.34	$4.09 billion	$12.94	25.62

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Dynavax Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Amgen shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Dynavax Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Amgen shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Amgen beats Dynavax Technologies on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Dynavax Technologies

Dynavax Technologies Corporation, a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing vaccines in the United States. It markets HEPLISAV-B, a hepatitis B vaccine for prevention of infection caused by all known subtypes of hepatitis B virus in age 18 years and older in the United States and Europe. The company also manufactures and sells CpG 1018, the adjuvant used in HEPLISAV-B. Dynavax Technologies Corporation has a collaboration agreement with Valneva Scotland Limited; Zhejiang Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.; Clover Biopharmaceuticals (Hong Kong) Co., Limited; Biological E. Limited; PT Bio Farma; Medigen Vaccine Biologics; and Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. The company was formerly known as Double Helix Corporation and changed its name to Dynavax Technologies Corporation in September 1996. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout. It also markets other products, including Neulasta, MVASI, AMJEVITA/AMGEVITA, TEZSPIRE, Parsabiv, Aimovig, LUMAKRAS/LUMYKRAS, EPOGEN, KANJINTI, TAVNEOS, RAVICTI, UPLIZNA and PROCYSBI. The company serves healthcare providers, including physicians or their clinics, dialysis centers, hospitals, and pharmacies. It distributes its products through pharmaceutical wholesale distributors, as well as direct-to-consumer channels. The company has collaboration agreements with AstraZeneca plc for the development and commercialization of TEZSPIRE; Novartis Pharma AG to develop and commercialize Aimovig; UCB for the development and commercialization of EVENITY; Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. for rocatinlimab development and commercialization; and BeiGene, Ltd. for oncology products expansion and development. Amgen Inc. was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.