Reviewing Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Guided Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:GTHP)

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Guided Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:GTHP) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Valneva and Guided Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$183.52 million	3.79	-$13.25 million	($1.44)	-5.61
Guided Therapeutics	$10,000.00	3,004.23	-$2.42 million	($0.05)	-6.99

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.7% of Guided Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 66.8% of Guided Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Valneva has a beta of 1.83, suggesting that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guided Therapeutics has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Valneva and Guided Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	1	0	3	0	2.50
Guided Therapeutics	0	0	0	0	0.00

Valneva currently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 85.64%. Given Valneva’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Valneva is more favorable than Guided Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Valneva and Guided Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-57.81%	-59.44%	-21.65%
Guided Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-246.42%

Summary

Valneva beats Guided Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 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 Guided Therapeutics

Guided Therapeutics, Inc., a medical technology company, focuses on developing medical devices. It focuses on the commercialization of LuViva, a non-invasive cervical cancer detection device that identifies cervical cancers and precancers painlessly, non-invasively, and at the point-of-care by scanning the cervix with light, then analyzing the light reflected and fluorescent light. The company was formerly known as SpectRx, Inc. and changed its name to Guided Therapeutics, Inc. in February 2008. Guided Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is based in Norcross, Georgia.