Financial Analysis: Natera (NASDAQ:NTRA) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN)

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

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Natera	$2.31 billion	24.97	-$208.16 million	($1.36)	-293.69
Valneva	$197.56 million	2.65	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.61

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

Risk and Volatility

Natera has a beta of 1.5, meaning that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 1.53, meaning that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Natera	-7.11%	-11.38%	-7.87%
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Natera and Valneva, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Natera	1	4	16	2	2.83
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67

Natera currently has a consensus price target of $374.64, indicating a potential downside of 6.20%. Valneva has a consensus price target of $9.30, indicating a potential upside of 68.78%. Given Valneva’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Valneva is more favorable than Natera.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.9% of Natera shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. 5.0% of Natera shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Natera beats Valneva on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Natera

Natera, Inc., a diagnostics company, develops and commercializes molecular testing services worldwide. Its products include Panorama, a non-invasive prenatal test that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus, as well as in twin pregnancies; Horizon carrier screening test for individuals and couples determine if they are carriers of genetic variations that cause certain genetic conditions; Vistara single-gene NIPT screens for 25 single-gene disorders that cause severe skeletal, cardiac, and neurological conditions; Spectrum, preimplantation genetic tests for couples undergoing IVF; Anora that analyzes miscarriage tissue from women; Empower, a hereditary cancer screening test; and non-invasive prenatal paternity product, which allows a couple to establish paternity without waiting for the child to be born. The company also provides Signatera, a ctDNA blood test for molecular residual disease assessment and surveillance of disease recurrence in patients previously diagnosed with cancer; Altera, a tissue based comprehensive genomic profiling test; Prospera to assess active rejection in patients who have undergone kidney, heart, and lung transplantation; and Renasight, a kidney gene panel test. In addition, it offers Constellation, a cloud-based software product that enables laboratory customers to gain access through the cloud to the company's algorithms and bioinformatics to validate and launch tests. The company offers products through its direct sales force, as well as through a network of laboratory and distribution partners. It has a partnership agreement with BGI Genomics Co., Ltd. to develop, manufacture, and commercialize NGS-based genetic testing assays; and Foundation Medicine, Inc. to develop and commercialize personalized circulating tumor DNA monitoring assays. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

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.