Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) vs. Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Critical Review

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Novavax and Ginkgo Bioworks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novavax	-32.18%	N/A	-17.05%
Ginkgo Bioworks	-298.78%	-58.54%	-34.24%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.0% of Novavax shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Novavax shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Ginkgo Bioworks shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Novavax has a beta of 2.1, suggesting that its stock price is 110% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ginkgo Bioworks has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Novavax and Ginkgo Bioworks”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Novavax	$983.71 million	1.19	-$545.06 million	($2.26)	-3.24
Ginkgo Bioworks	$184.34 million	1.92	-$892.87 million	($13.08)	-0.49

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Novavax and Ginkgo Bioworks, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novavax	1	2	3	0	2.33
Ginkgo Bioworks	3	1	1	0	1.60

Novavax presently has a consensus price target of $17.83, suggesting a potential upside of 143.62%. Ginkgo Bioworks has a consensus price target of $4.58, suggesting a potential downside of 28.18%. Given Novavax’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Novavax is more favorable than Ginkgo Bioworks.

Summary

Novavax beats Ginkgo Bioworks on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc., a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response. It focuses on urgent health challenges, which is evaluating vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, and COVID-19 influenza combination. The company is commercializing a COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373 under the brand names of Nuvaxovid, Covovax, and Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, adjuvanted for adult and adolescent populations as a primary series and for both homologous and heterologous booster indications. It is also developing R21/Matrix-M adjuvant malaria vaccine. Novavax, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops platform for cell programming in the United States. Its platform is used to program cells to enable biological production of products, such as novel therapeutics, food ingredients, and chemicals derived from petroleum. It serves pharma and biotech, agriculture, industrial and environment, food and nutrition, consumer and technology, and government and defense industries. Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.