Financial Contrast: Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) versus HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX)

HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) and Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Volatility & Risk

HilleVax has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericel has a beta of 1.71, meaning that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for HilleVax and Vericel, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HilleVax	0	6	0	0	2.00
Vericel	0	0	6	1	3.14

HilleVax presently has a consensus price target of $3.00, suggesting a potential upside of 53.06%. Vericel has a consensus price target of $59.71, suggesting a potential upside of 3.91%. Given HilleVax’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe HilleVax is more favorable than Vericel.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

86.4% of HilleVax shares are owned by institutional investors. 71.1% of HilleVax shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Vericel shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares HilleVax and Vericel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HilleVax	N/A	-67.27%	-51.99%
Vericel	1.56%	1.48%	0.96%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HilleVax and Vericel”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HilleVax	N/A	N/A	-$123.57 million	($3.10)	-0.63
Vericel	$197.52 million	14.36	-$3.18 million	$0.06	957.99

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

Summary

Vericel beats HilleVax on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines in the United States. It develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus infection. The company was formerly known as MokshaCo, Inc. and changed its name to HilleVax, Inc. in February 2021. HilleVax, Inc. was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.