Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR – Get Free Report) and Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.
Volatility and Risk
Voyager Therapeutics has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Altimmune has a beta of 0.06, meaning that its share price is 94% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Voyager Therapeutics and Altimmune’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Voyager Therapeutics | -312.63% | -57.92% | -45.00% |
| Altimmune | N/A | -31.41% | -26.96% |
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Voyager Therapeutics and Altimmune”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Voyager Therapeutics | $40.37 million | 2.63 | -$119.72 million | ($1.80) | -0.96 |
| Altimmune | $40,000.00 | 9,920.52 | -$88.09 million | ($0.78) | -2.62 |
Altimmune has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Voyager Therapeutics. Altimmune is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Voyager Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent recommendations for Voyager Therapeutics and Altimmune, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Voyager Therapeutics | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.75 |
| Altimmune | 1 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2.70 |
Voyager Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 859.30%. Altimmune has a consensus price target of $14.33, indicating a potential upside of 602.61%. Given Voyager Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Voyager Therapeutics is more favorable than Altimmune.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
48.0% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.0% of Altimmune shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.7% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Altimmune shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Altimmune beats Voyager Therapeutics on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
About Altimmune
Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It is also developing HepTcell, an immunotherapeutic product candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. The company was formerly known as Vaxin Inc. and changed its name to Altimmune, Inc. in September 2015. Altimmune, Inc. was founded in 1997 is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
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