Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) and Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Head to Head Review

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) and Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and risk.

Risk and Volatility

Beam Therapeutics has a beta of 2.2, suggesting that its stock price is 120% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Beam Therapeutics and Xenon Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beam Therapeutics	1	2	8	1	2.75
Xenon Pharmaceuticals	1	1	12	1	2.87

Beam Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $50.10, suggesting a potential upside of 108.32%. Xenon Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $70.14, suggesting a potential upside of 98.48%. Given Beam Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Beam Therapeutics is more favorable than Xenon Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Beam Therapeutics and Xenon Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beam Therapeutics	-54.75%	-30.71%	-24.07%
Xenon Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-43.98%	-41.72%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.7% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Xenon Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Xenon Pharmaceuticals shares are owned 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Beam Therapeutics and Xenon Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beam Therapeutics	$139.74 million	17.78	-$79.99 million	($0.86)	-27.97
Xenon Pharmaceuticals	$7.50 million	455.51	-$345.91 million	($4.74)	-7.46

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

Summary

Beam Therapeutics beats Xenon Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a. The company has research collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc., focus on in vivo base editing programs for targets rare genetic diseases of the liver, muscle, and central nervous system; Apellis Pharmaceuticals to conduct preclinical research on target specific genes within the complement system in various organs, including the eye, liver, and brain; Verve Therapeutics, Inc., for cardiovascular disease treatments; Sana Biotechnology, Inc., to research, develop, and commercialize rights to CRISPR Cas12b for cell therapy programs; and Orbital Therapeutics design RNA for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of human disease. Beam Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Xenon Pharmaceuticals

Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics to treat patients with neurological disorders in Canada. Its clinical development pipeline includes XEN1101, a novel and potent Kv7 potassium channel opener, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders. The company has a license and collaboration agreement with the Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. for the development of NBI-921352, a selective Nav1.6 sodium channel inhibitor that is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of SCN8A developmental and epileptic encephalopathy, and other indications, including adult focal epilepsy. Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Burnaby, Canada.