Critical Analysis: Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) & AquaBounty Technologies (NASDAQ:AQB)

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) and AquaBounty Technologies (NASDAQ:AQB) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and AquaBounty Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	$3.71 billion	8.63	$313.75 million	$5.38	44.53
AquaBounty Technologies	$2.47 million	2.38	-$18.49 million	($0.82)	-1.39

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and AquaBounty Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	0	5	16	2	2.87
AquaBounty Technologies	1	0	0	0	1.00

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus target price of $367.20, suggesting a potential upside of 53.28%. Given Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Alnylam Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than AquaBounty Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and AquaBounty Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	15.26%	84.93%	14.30%
AquaBounty Technologies	N/A	-147.07%	-28.73%

Risk and Volatility

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.31, suggesting that its stock price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AquaBounty Technologies has a beta of 1.45, suggesting that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.0% of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.9% of AquaBounty Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of AquaBounty Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals beats AquaBounty Technologies on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interference. Its marketed products include ONPATTRO (patisiran) for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults; AMVUTTRA for the treatment of hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in adults; GIVLAARI for the treatment of adults with acute hepatic porphyria; and OXLUMO for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1. In addition, the company develops patisiran for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis, or ATTR amyloidosis, with cardiomyopathy; cemdisiran to treat complement-mediated diseases; Belcesiran for the treatment of alpha-1 liver disease; Elebsiran to treat chronic HBV infection; Zilebesiran to treat hypertension; ALN-APP to treat Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy; and ALN-HSD to treat NASH. Further, it offers Fitusiran for the treatment of hemophilia, Inclisiran to treat hypercholesterolemia, lumasiran for the treatment of advanced PH1, and vutrisiran for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis, which is in phase 3 clinical trial. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has strategic collaborations with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to discover, develop, and commercialize RNAi therapeutics for a range of diseases by addressing therapeutic targets expressed in the eye and CNS; and Roche to develop pharmaceutical products containing zilebesiran. It also has license and collaboration agreements with Novartis AG; Vir Biotechnology, Inc.; Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and PeptiDream, Inc. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About AquaBounty Technologies

AquaBounty Technologies, Inc., a biotechnology company, operates in the aquaculture industry in the United States and Canada. The company engages in genetic, genomic, and fish health and nutrition research activities. It also operates salmon farms using proprietary technology. In addition, the company offers AquAdvantage Salmon, a genetically engineered Atlantic salmon for human consumption; and sells conventional Atlantic salmon, salmon eggs, fry, and byproducts. The company was formerly known as Aqua Bounty Farms, Inc. and changed its name to AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. in June 2004. AquaBounty Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Harvard, Massachusetts.