Comparing Surrozen (NASDAQ:SRZN) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN)

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Surrozen (NASDAQ:SRZN) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Valneva has a beta of 1.53, meaning that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Surrozen has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.6% of Surrozen shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 31.7% of Surrozen shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%
Surrozen	-2,885.33%	N/A	-93.62%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Valneva and Surrozen”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$197.56 million	2.55	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.52
Surrozen	$3.48 million	87.44	-$242.03 million	($40.55)	-0.65

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Valneva and Surrozen, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67
Surrozen	1	1	4	1	2.71

Valneva currently has a consensus price target of $9.30, indicating a potential upside of 74.98%. Surrozen has a consensus price target of $48.33, indicating a potential upside of 84.41%. Given Surrozen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Surrozen is more favorable than Valneva.

Summary

Surrozen beats Valneva on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Surrozen

Surrozen, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops drug candidates to selectively modulate the Wnt pathway for tissue repair. The company is developing antibody-based therapeutics which targets various disease areas, including diseases of the intestine, liver, retina, cornea, lung, kidney, cochlea, skin, pancreas, and central nervous system. Its products in pipeline include SZN-043, a hepatocyte-specific R-spondin mimetic bispecific fusion protein, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of severe liver diseases, including alcohol-associated hepatitis. The company develops SZN-413, a Fzd4 targeted bi-specific antibody for the treatment of retinal vascular associated diseases. Surrozen, Inc. has collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH to research, develop, and commercialize Fzd4 bi-specific antibodies. Surrozen, Inc. is based in South San Francisco, California.