Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS – Get Free Report) and Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.
Risk and Volatility
Gritstone bio has a beta of 0.49, suggesting that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Voyager Therapeutics has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
48.5% of Gritstone bio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.6% of Gritstone bio shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Gritstone bio | -910.50% | -328.51% | -82.53% |
| Voyager Therapeutics | 15.80% | 8.51% | 6.18% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Gritstone bio and Voyager Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Gritstone bio | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2.50 |
| Voyager Therapeutics | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3.00 |
Gritstone bio presently has a consensus price target of $2.17, indicating a potential upside of 0.00%. Voyager Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 201.42%. Given Voyager Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Voyager Therapeutics is more favorable than Gritstone bio.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Gritstone bio and Voyager Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Gritstone bio | $496,000.00 | 0.00 | -$138.49 million | ($1.24) | N/A |
| Voyager Therapeutics | $250.01 million | 1.23 | $132.33 million | $0.71 | 7.94 |
Voyager Therapeutics has higher revenue and earnings than Gritstone bio. Gritstone bio is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Voyager Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Voyager Therapeutics beats Gritstone bio on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Gritstone bio
Gritstone bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing vaccine-based immunotherapy candidates against cancer and infectious diseases. Its primary product candidate is GRANITE, an individualized immunotherapy candidate, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the treatment of microsatellite stable colorectal cancers; and has completed Phase 1/2 clinical trials for treating solid tumors. The company is also developing SLATE, an off-the-shelf immunotherapy candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic solid tumors. In addition, it develops CORAL, a COVID-19 vaccine program; and a therapeutic vaccine candidate that is in Phase 1 clinical trials designed to treat and cure human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Gritstone bio, Inc. has a strategic collaboration with bluebird bio, Inc.; collaboration agreement with Gilead Sciences, Inc.; and license agreement with Genevant Sciences GmbH. The company was formerly known as Gritstone Oncology, Inc. and changed its name to Gritstone bio, Inc. in May 2021. Gritstone bio, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the treatment of gene therapy and neurology diseases. The company's lead clinical candidate is VY-TAU01, an anti-tau antibody program for the treatment of alzheimer's disease. Its product pipeline includes superoxide dismutase 1 silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; tau silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of alzheimer's disease; and vectorized anti-amyloid antibody, a gene therapy targeting anti-amyloid for the treatment of alzheimer's disease and is in preclinical trial. In addition, the company develops VY-FXN01, which is in preclinical trial to treat friedreich's ataxia; and GBA1 gene replacement to treat parkinson's disease and is in preclinical trial. Further, it provides research program for the treatment of Huntington's disease. The company has collaboration and license agreements with Alexion; AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Novartis Pharma AG; Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc; and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.
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