Head to Head Analysis: Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) & Genprex (NASDAQ:GNPX)

Genprex (NASDAQ:GNPX) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Genprex has a beta of -0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 179% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moderna has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Genprex	N/A	N/A	-$21.11 million	($26.50)	-0.09
Moderna	$1.94 billion	10.11	-$2.82 billion	($7.27)	-6.92

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Genprex and Moderna, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Genprex	1	0	0	0	1.00
Moderna	5	13	2	0	1.85

Moderna has a consensus target price of $31.87, indicating a potential downside of 36.63%. Given Moderna’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Moderna is more favorable than Genprex.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

14.1% of Genprex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Moderna shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Genprex shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.9% of Moderna shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Genprex and Moderna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Genprex	N/A	-877.15%	-382.74%
Moderna	-145.16%	-30.15%	-22.95%

Summary

Moderna beats Genprex on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Genprex

Genprex, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company, focuses on developing gene-based therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is REQORSA (GPX-001), which is in preclinical trials to treat non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer; and GPX-002, which is in preclinical trials to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Its product pipeline comprises Acclaim-1, which is in phase 2a clinical trial for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer; Acclaim-2, which is in phase phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer; and Acclaim-3, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of small cell lung cancer. The company also develops ONC-001, REQORSA as a monotherapy, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to treat advance non-small cell lung cancer; and ONC-002, REQORSA with Tarceva, which is in phase 2 clinical trial to treat non-small cell lung cancer. Genprex, Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines. The company also offers systemic secreted and cell surface therapeutics; cancer vaccines, such as personalized cancer, KRAS, and checkpoint vaccines; intratumoral immuno-oncology products; rare disease intracellular therapeutics; and inhaled pulmonary therapeutics. It has strategic alliances and collaborations with AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated; Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.; Metagenomi, Inc.; Carisma Therapeutics, Inc.; CytomX Therapeutics; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Institute for Life Changing Medicines; and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company was formerly known as Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Moderna, Inc. in August 2018. Moderna, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.