Contrasting Ventyx Biosciences (NASDAQ:VTYX) & Clene (NASDAQ:CLNN)

Ventyx Biosciences (NASDAQ:VTYX) and Clene (NASDAQ:CLNN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Ventyx Biosciences and Clene, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ventyx Biosciences	1	8	0	0	1.89
Clene	1	0	6	0	2.71

Ventyx Biosciences presently has a consensus target price of $14.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.21%. Clene has a consensus target price of $32.60, indicating a potential upside of 602.59%. Given Clene’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Clene is more favorable than Ventyx Biosciences.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ventyx Biosciences and Clene”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ventyx Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$135.12 million	($1.50)	-9.31
Clene	$214,000.00	235.25	-$39.40 million	($3.39)	-1.37

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

Risk and Volatility

Ventyx Biosciences has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clene has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Ventyx Biosciences and Clene’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ventyx Biosciences	N/A	-48.11%	-43.89%
Clene	-14,250.47%	N/A	-140.71%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.9% of Ventyx Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 23.3% of Clene shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.5% of Ventyx Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 35.3% of Clene shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Clene beats Ventyx Biosciences on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ventyx Biosciences

Ventyx Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops small molecule product candidates to address a range of inflammatory diseases. The company’s lead clinical product candidate is VTX958, a selective allosteric tyrosine kinase type 2 inhibitor for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn’s disease. It is also developing VTX002, a sphingosine 1 phosphate receptor modulator that is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of ulcerative colitis; and VTX2735, a peripheral-targeted NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome inhibitor to treat patients with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome. In addition, the company develops VTX3232, a CNS-penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor. Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is based in San Diego, California.

About Clene

Clene Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel clean-surfaced nanotechnology (CSN) therapeutics. Its lead drug candidate is CNM-Au8, which is being studied in various clinical trials, including a completed Phase 2 platform trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CNM-Au8 in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); completed Phase 2 proof of concept clinical trial in patients with early symptomatic ALS; completed two open-label investigator blinded Phase 2 clinical trials on the brain's energy metabolites; completed Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of visual pathway deficits in chronic optic neuropathy for remyelination in stable relapsing Multiple Sclerosis; and a second Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with Parkinson's Diseases. The company also develops CNM-AgZn17, a gel polymer suspension of silver and zinc ions that is being developed for the treatment of infectious diseases and to support wound healing; and CNM-ZnAg, a broad-spectrum antiviral and antibacterial agent to treat infection disease and to provide immune support for symptom resolution. In addition, it markets and distributes dietary supplements comprising rMetx, an aqueous zinc-silver ion dietary supplement; and KHC46, an aqueous gold dietary supplement of very low-concentration Au nanoparticles. The company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.