Contrasting Varex Imaging (NASDAQ:VREX) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Valneva and Varex Imaging, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	1	0	3	0	2.50
Varex Imaging	1	1	2	0	2.25

Valneva presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 45.35%. Varex Imaging has a consensus target price of $16.17, suggesting a potential upside of 51.66%. Given Varex Imaging’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Varex Imaging is more favorable than Valneva.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Valneva and Varex Imaging”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$197.56 million	4.50	-$130.33 million	($1.58)	-6.53
Varex Imaging	$844.60 million	0.53	-$70.30 million	($1.64)	-6.50

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

Profitability

This table compares Valneva and Varex Imaging’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-67.64%	-76.81%	-26.33%
Varex Imaging	-7.92%	8.43%	3.66%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are held by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of Varex Imaging shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.79, suggesting that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Varex Imaging has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 Varex Imaging

Varex Imaging Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells X-ray imaging components. The company operates through two segments, Medical and Industrial. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, sells, and services X-ray imaging components, comprising X-ray tubes, digital detectors and accessories, ionization chambers, high voltage connectors, image-processing software and workstations, 3D reconstruction software, computer-aided diagnostic software, collimators, automatic exposure control devices, generators, and heat exchangers. This segment's products are used in a range of applications, including CT, mammography, oncology, cardiac, surgery, dental, and other diagnostic radiography uses. The Industrial segment designs, develops, manufactures, sells, and services Linatron X-ray linear accelerators, X-ray tubes, digital detectors, high voltage connectors, and coolers for use in security and inspection applications, such as baggage screening at airports, cargo screening at ports and borders, and nondestructive testing, irradiation, and inspection in various applications. The company sells its products through imaging system original equipment manufacturers, independent service companies, and distributors, as well as directly to end-users. It has operations in North America, South America, Europe, Russia, the Middle East, India, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Varex Imaging Corporation was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.