Comparing Finch Therapeutics Group (NASDAQ:FNCH) & Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Finch Therapeutics Group (NASDAQ:FNCH) and Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Finch Therapeutics Group and Vaxcyte, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Finch Therapeutics Group	0	0	0	0	N/A
Vaxcyte	0	0	4	0	3.00

Vaxcyte has a consensus price target of $78.50, suggesting a potential upside of 2.94%. Given Vaxcyte’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vaxcyte is more favorable than Finch Therapeutics Group.

Volatility & Risk

Finch Therapeutics Group has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vaxcyte has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

21.8% of Finch Therapeutics Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.8% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by institutional investors. 44.9% of Finch Therapeutics Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Finch Therapeutics Group and Vaxcyte’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Finch Therapeutics Group	N/A	-68.11%	-28.10%
Vaxcyte	N/A	-28.83%	-26.89%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Finch Therapeutics Group and Vaxcyte’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Finch Therapeutics Group	$110,000.00	18.73	-$74.75 million	($10.14)	-0.13
Vaxcyte	N/A	N/A	-$402.27 million	($4.28)	-17.82

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

Summary

Vaxcyte beats Finch Therapeutics Group on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Finch Therapeutics Group

Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc., a clinical-stage microbiome therapeutics company, develops a novel class of orally administered biological drugs in the United States. The company develops FIN-211, a microbiome candidate designed to address the gastrointestinal and behavioral symptoms of autism spectrum disorder; and FIN-524 for the prevention, diagnosis, theragnosis or treatment of diseases in humans, including ulcerative colitis; FIN-525 for the treatment of Crohn's disease; and other microbiome product candidates. The company has collaboration and license agreements with Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; and license agreements with Skysong Innovations LLC, OpenBiome, Arizona State University, and University of Minnesota. Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness. The company was formerly known as SutroVax, Inc. and changed its name to Vaxcyte, Inc. in May 2020. Vaxcyte, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in San Carlos, California.