Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA – Get Free Report) and Arcturus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ARCT – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and valuation.
Volatility and Risk
Moderna has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcturus Therapeutics has a beta of 2.62, indicating that its share price is 162% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Moderna | 4 | 15 | 6 | 0 | 2.08 |
| Arcturus Therapeutics | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 3.00 |
Moderna presently has a consensus target price of $113.75, indicating a potential downside of 54.26%. Arcturus Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $24.50, indicating a potential upside of 163.16%. Given Arcturus Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Arcturus Therapeutics is more favorable than Moderna.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
75.3% of Moderna shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.5% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 10.8% of Moderna shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.8% of Arcturus Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Moderna | -110.46% | -25.79% | -15.85% |
| Arcturus Therapeutics | -285.92% | -46.79% | -36.50% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Moderna and Arcturus Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Moderna | $1.94 billion | 51.76 | -$2.82 billion | ($7.10) | -35.03 |
| Arcturus Therapeutics | $82.03 million | 3.27 | -$65.78 million | ($3.08) | -3.02 |
Arcturus Therapeutics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Moderna. Moderna is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Arcturus Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Arcturus Therapeutics beats Moderna on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Moderna
Moderna, Inc. is a biotechnology company that develops medicines and vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Its platform is designed to instruct cells to produce proteins that can help prevent or treat disease. The company’s commercial products include Spikevax, a vaccine against COVID-19, and mRESVIA, a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Moderna also researches potential mRNA-based vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases, cancer, and rare diseases. Founded in 2010 as Moderna Therapeutics, the company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
About Arcturus Therapeutics
Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc. is a biotechnology company founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Diego, California. It develops RNA medicines and vaccines, using its LUNAR lipid-mediated delivery technology and self-amplifying RNA platform to deliver genetic instructions to cells. The company’s pipeline includes investigational treatments for rare diseases, such as ARCT-032 for cystic fibrosis and ARCT-810 for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. It has also developed ARCT-154, a self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine approved in Japan as Kostaive, and works with partners on the development and commercialization of its products.
Receive News & Ratings for Moderna Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Moderna and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
