Alvotech (NASDAQ:ALVO) vs. Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Head to Head Review

Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) and Alvotech (NASDAQ:ALVO) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%
Alvotech	-36.31%	N/A	-11.73%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Valneva and Alvotech, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67
Alvotech	2	1	4	0	2.29

Valneva currently has a consensus target price of $9.30, indicating a potential upside of 62.02%. Alvotech has a consensus target price of $8.50, indicating a potential upside of 72.06%. Given Alvotech’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Alvotech is more favorable than Valneva.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

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

Volatility and Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.53, meaning that its share price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alvotech has a beta of 0.2, meaning that its share price is 80% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Valneva and Alvotech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$142.94 million	3.81	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.72
Alvotech	$491.95 million	3.03	$27.92 million	($0.61)	-8.10

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

Summary

Alvotech beats Valneva on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 Alvotech

Alvotech, through its subsidiaries, develops and manufactures biosimilar medicines for patients worldwide. It offers biosimilar products in the therapeutic areas of autoimmune, eye, and bone disorders, as well as cancer. The company's lead program is AVT02, a high concentration formulation biosimilar to Humira to treat various inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis, and other indications; AVT04, a biosimilar to Stelara to treat various inflammatory conditions comprising psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis, and other indications; AVT06, a biosimilar to Eylea to treat various conditions, such as age-related macular degeneration, macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy; and AVT03, a biosimilar to Xgeva and Prolia, which is in the pre-clinical phase to treat prevent bone fracture, spinal cord compression, and the need for radiation or bone surgery in patients with certain types of cancer, as well as prevent bone loss and increase bone mass. In addition, it offers AVT05, a biosimilar to Simponi and Simponi Aria, which is in early phase development to treat various inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and other indications; AVT16, a biosimilar to an Entyvio product; AVT23, a biosimilar to Xolair, which is in late-stage development to treat nasal polyps; and AVT33, a biosimilar to an Keytruda product. Alvotech was founded in 2013 and is based in Luxembourg, Luxembourg.