Head-To-Head Comparison: Fortress Biotech (NASDAQ:FBIO) & WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)

WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) and Fortress Biotech (NASDAQ:FBIO) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for WAVE Life Sciences and Fortress Biotech, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WAVE Life Sciences	1	0	13	0	2.86
Fortress Biotech	1	0	2	0	2.33

WAVE Life Sciences presently has a consensus target price of $31.67, indicating a potential upside of 98.54%. Fortress Biotech has a consensus target price of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 309.43%. Given Fortress Biotech’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fortress Biotech is more favorable than WAVE Life Sciences.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares WAVE Life Sciences and Fortress Biotech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WAVE Life Sciences	$108.30 million	24.62	-$97.01 million	($0.75)	-21.27
Fortress Biotech	$57.67 million	2.17	-$46.00 million	($0.18)	-22.39

Fortress Biotech has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WAVE Life Sciences. Fortress Biotech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WAVE Life Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

89.7% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.5% of Fortress Biotech shares are held by institutional investors. 24.0% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.9% of Fortress Biotech shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares WAVE Life Sciences and Fortress Biotech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WAVE Life Sciences	-111.64%	-75.61%	-43.00%
Fortress Biotech	6.40%	-69.39%	-13.95%

Volatility & Risk

WAVE Life Sciences has a beta of -1.82, meaning that its stock price is 282% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fortress Biotech has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Fortress Biotech beats WAVE Life Sciences on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About WAVE Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders. It is developing WVE-006, a RNA editing oligonucleotide for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; siRNA clinical candidate for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders; WVE-N531, a exon skipping oligonucleotide for the treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy; and WVE-003, an antisense silencing oligonucleotide for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD). The company has collaboration agreements with GlaxoSmithKline for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for disorders of the Central Nervous System; and Asuragen, Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of companion diagnostics for investigational allele-selective therapeutic programs targeting HD. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Singapore.

About Fortress Biotech

Fortress Biotech, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops dermatology, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology products in the United States. The company markets dermatology products, such as Qbrexza a medicated cloth towelette for the treatment of primary axillary hyperhidrosis; Accutane capsules for severe recalcitrant nodular acne; Amzeeq for severe acne vulgaris; Zilxi, a topical foam; Exelderm cream and solution for topical use; Targadox an oral doxycycline drug for adjunctive therapy for severe acne; Luxamend; sulconazole nitrate cream and solution for tinea cruris and tinea corporis; and doxycycline hyclate tablet. It also develops late stage product candidates, such as intravenous Tramadol for the treatment of post-operative acute pain; CUTX-101, an injection for the treatment of Menkes disease; Cosibelimab for metastatic cancers; Olafertinib for the treatment of patients with EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC; CAEL-101 for the treatment of amyloid light chain amyloidosis; Triplex vaccine for cytomegalovirus; and DFD-29 for the treatment of rosacea. The company’s early stage product candidates include Dotinurad for gout; MB-106 for B-cell non-hodgkin lymphoma; MB-101 for glioblastoma; MB-108 for recurrent GBM; MB-109 for refractory glioblastoma; AJ201, an androgen receptor degradation enhancer; BAER-101, a positive allosteric modulator; MB-117 for newly diagnosed x-linked severe combined immunodeficiency; and MB217 for previously transplanted; and MB-110 for RAG1 severe combined immunodeficiency. Its preclinical product candidates comprise Mayo Clinic In Vivo CAR T Platform Technology; AAV-ATP7A gene therapy; AVTS-001 gene therapy; CK-103 BET inhibitor; CEVA-D and CEVA-102; CK-302, an anti-GITR; CK-303, an anti-CAIX; and oligonucleotide platform. The company was formerly known as Coronado Biosciences, Inc. and changed its name to Fortress Biotech, Inc. in April 2015. Fortress Biotech, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida.