Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) vs. 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FDMT) Head-To-Head Contrast

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FDMT) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Moderna and 4D Molecular Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Moderna	4	15	3	1	2.04
4D Molecular Therapeutics	1	2	7	0	2.60

Moderna presently has a consensus price target of $60.63, suggesting a potential upside of 95.84%. 4D Molecular Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $32.13, suggesting a potential upside of 609.16%. Given 4D Molecular Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe 4D Molecular Therapeutics is more favorable than Moderna.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.3% of Moderna shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.3% of 4D Molecular Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 15.7% of Moderna shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.3% of 4D Molecular Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Moderna has a beta of 1.59, suggesting that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, 4D Molecular Therapeutics has a beta of 2.81, suggesting that its share price is 181% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Moderna and 4D Molecular Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Moderna	-110.04%	-28.74%	-21.83%
4D Molecular Therapeutics	N/A	-28.00%	-26.16%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Moderna and 4D Molecular Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Moderna	$3.20 billion	3.73	-$3.56 billion	($9.28)	-3.34
4D Molecular Therapeutics	$17,000.00	12,318.40	-$100.84 million	($2.85)	-1.59

4D Molecular Therapeutics has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Moderna. Moderna is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than 4D Molecular Therapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

4D Molecular Therapeutics beats Moderna on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines. The company also offers systemic secreted and cell surface therapeutics; cancer vaccines, such as personalized cancer, KRAS, and checkpoint vaccines; intratumoral immuno-oncology products; rare disease intracellular therapeutics; and inhaled pulmonary therapeutics. It has strategic alliances and collaborations with AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated; Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.; Metagenomi, Inc.; Carisma Therapeutics, Inc.; CytomX Therapeutics; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Institute for Life Changing Medicines; and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company was formerly known as Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Moderna, Inc. in August 2018. Moderna, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About 4D Molecular Therapeutics

4D Molecular Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company, develops genetic medicines using its therapeutic vector evolution platform in the Netherland and the United States. The company develops a portfolio of genetic medicine product candidates focuses in three therapeutic areas for ophthalmology, cardiology, and pulmonology. Its product pipeline includes 4D-150, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration; and is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of diabetic macular edema. The company develops 4D-125, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of x-linked retinitis pigmentosa; 4D-110, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of choroideremia; 4D-710, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment cystic fibrosis lung disease; and 4D-310 to treat fabry disease cardiomyopathy and is in phase 1/2 clinical trial. In addition, its product candidates comprises 4D-175, which is in pre-clinical development for the treatment for geographic trophy; and 4D-725 to treat alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency lung disease and is in pre-clinical development. The company has collaboration and licensing agreements with Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc.; Astellas Gene Therapies, Inc; uniQure biopharma B.V.; and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.