Head-To-Head Comparison: Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) and uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE)

uniQure (NASDAQ:QURE) and Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.8% of uniQure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Vir Biotechnology shares are held by institutional investors. 4.7% of uniQure shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Vir Biotechnology shares are held by 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 uniQure and Vir Biotechnology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
uniQure	-1,350.73%	-111.96%	-29.01%
Vir Biotechnology	N/A	-29.99%	-23.62%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for uniQure and Vir Biotechnology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
uniQure	1	3	11	1	2.75
Vir Biotechnology	2	0	6	1	2.67

uniQure currently has a consensus target price of $53.25, suggesting a potential upside of 153.93%. Vir Biotechnology has a consensus target price of $21.86, suggesting a potential upside of 109.96%. Given uniQure’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe uniQure is more favorable than Vir Biotechnology.

Volatility & Risk

uniQure has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vir Biotechnology has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares uniQure and Vir Biotechnology”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
uniQure	$16.10 million	90.35	-$198.97 million	($4.01)	-5.23
Vir Biotechnology	$68.56 million	25.69	-$437.99 million	($1.86)	-5.60

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

Summary

uniQure beats Vir Biotechnology on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About uniQure

uniQure N.V. develops treatments for patients suffering from rare and other devastating diseases. It offers HEMGENIX that has completed Phase III HOPE-B pivotal trial for the treatment of hemophilia B. The company also develops AMT-130, a gene therapy that is in Phase I/II clinical study for the treatment of Huntington's disease. In addition, it is developing AMT-162, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of superoxide dismutase 1- amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; AMT-260 that is in preclinical trial to treat temporal lobe epilepsy; AMT-191, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of fabry disease; AMT-161 that is in preclinical trial to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by mutations; AMT-240, which is in preclinical trial to for the treatment of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease; and AMT-210 that is in preclinical trial to treat Parkinson's disease. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

About Vir Biotechnology

Vir Biotechnology, Inc., an immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. Its clinical development pipeline consists of product candidates targeting hepatitis delta virus (HDV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The company’s preclinical candidates include those targeting influenza A and B, coronavirus disease 2019, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (MPV), and human papillomavirus (HPV). The company has grant agreements with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health; an option and license agreement with Brii Biosciences Limited; a collaboration and license agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; license agreements with MedImmune, LLC; collaboration with WuXi Biologics (Hong Kong) Limited and Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd.; and a collaborative research agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals S.A, as well as license agreement with Sanofi for three clinical-stage masked T-cell engagers (TCEs) and exclusive use of the protease-cleavable masking platform for oncology and infectious diseases. It also has a manufacturing agreement with Samsung Biologics Co.,Ltd. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.