Critical Survey: Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) & ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI)

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Valneva and ICU Medical”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$156.33 million	3.59	-$130.33 million	($1.87)	-3.17
ICU Medical	$2.23 billion	1.45	$730,000.00	$1.85	69.90

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Valneva and ICU Medical, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	2	0	3	0	2.20
ICU Medical	1	0	2	2	3.00

Valneva presently has a consensus target price of $11.98, suggesting a potential upside of 102.28%. ICU Medical has a consensus target price of $169.00, suggesting a potential upside of 30.69%. Given Valneva’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Valneva is more favorable than ICU Medical.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.1% of ICU Medical shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.1% of ICU Medical shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Valneva and ICU Medical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-88.87%	-107.63%	-33.02%
ICU Medical	2.15%	7.50%	3.91%

Volatility and Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.72, meaning that its share price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ICU Medical has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

ICU Medical beats Valneva on 10 of the 15 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 ICU Medical

ICU Medical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells medical devices used in infusion therapy, vascular access, and vital care applications worldwide. Its infusion therapy products include needlefree products under the MicroClave, MicroClave Clear, and NanoClave brands; Neutron catheter patency devices; ChemoClave and ChemoLock closed system transfer devices, which are used to limit the escape of hazardous drugs or vapor concentrations, block the transfer of environmental contaminants into the system, and eliminates the risk of needlestick injury; Tego needle free connectors; Deltec GRIPPER non-coring needles for portal access; and ClearGuard, SwabCap, and SwabTip disinfection caps. The company provides IV therapy and diluents, such as sodium chloride, dextrose, balanced electrolyte solutions, lactated ringer's, ringer's, mannitol, sodium chloride/dextrose, and sterile water; and irrigation solutions comprising sodium chloride and sterile water irrigation, physiologic solutions, ringer's irrigation, acetic acid irrigation, glycine irrigation, sorbitol-mannitol irrigation, flexible containers, and pour bottle options. It offers infusion pumps under the Plum 360 and Plum Duo brands; ambulatory and syringe infusion hardware products; IV mediation safety software, including ICU Medical MedNet, an enterprise-class medication management platform; LifeShield and PharmGuard medication infusion safety software; hemodynamic monitoring products; anesthesia systems and devices, breathing circuits, ventilation, respiratory, and specialty airway products; temperature management solutions; anesthesia/pain management trays and components; and professional services. The company's customers include acute care hospitals, wholesalers, ambulatory clinics, and alternate site facilities, including outpatient clinics, home health care providers, and long-term care facilities. ICU Medical, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in San Clemente, California.