Contrasting Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) and Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX)

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) and Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

53.0% of Novavax shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.0% of Arcellx shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Novavax shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.4% of Arcellx shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Novavax has a beta of 2.8, meaning that its stock price is 180% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcellx has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Novavax and Arcellx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novavax	38.14%	-115.51%	29.99%
Arcellx	-211.46%	-35.27%	-22.73%

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Novavax	$682.16 million	1.50	-$187.50 million	$2.65	2.38
Arcellx	$107.94 million	32.58	-$107.35 million	($2.99)	-21.34

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Novavax and Arcellx, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novavax	2	1	4	0	2.29
Arcellx	0	0	14	1	3.07

Novavax currently has a consensus price target of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 169.84%. Arcellx has a consensus price target of $111.23, indicating a potential upside of 74.29%. Given Novavax’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Novavax is more favorable than Arcellx.

Summary

Arcellx beats Novavax on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc., a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response. It focuses on urgent health challenges, which is evaluating vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, and COVID-19 influenza combination. The company is commercializing a COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373 under the brand names of Nuvaxovid, Covovax, and Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, adjuvanted for adult and adolescent populations as a primary series and for both homologous and heterologous booster indications. It is also developing R21/Matrix-M adjuvant malaria vaccine. Novavax, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About Arcellx

Arcellx, Inc., together with its subsidiary, engages in the development of various immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases in the United States. The company’s lead ddCAR product candidate is anitocabtagene autoleucel, which is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM). It also develops ACLX-001, a product candidate in Phase 1 clinical trials targeting BCMA to treat rrMM; and ACLX-002, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials that targets CD123 for treating relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). In addition, the company’s preclinical product includes ACLX-003 for the treatment of AML and MDS. Further, it focuses on the development of product candidates for solid tumor programs. It has a strategic alliance with Kite Pharma, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize anitocabtagene autoleucel. The company was formerly known as Encarta Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Arcellx, Inc. in January 2016. Arcellx, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Redwood City, California.