Contrasting ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) & Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) and ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

Vaxcyte has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ImmunityBio has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Vaxcyte and ImmunityBio”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vaxcyte	N/A	N/A	-$402.27 million	($4.60)	-15.87
ImmunityBio	$7.33 million	312.68	-$583.20 million	($0.92)	-3.58

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.8% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.6% of ImmunityBio shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 83.4% of ImmunityBio shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Vaxcyte and ImmunityBio, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vaxcyte	0	0	9	0	3.00
ImmunityBio	0	1	2	1	3.00

Vaxcyte presently has a consensus target price of $147.50, suggesting a potential upside of 102.00%. ImmunityBio has a consensus target price of $13.58, suggesting a potential upside of 312.87%. Given ImmunityBio’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe ImmunityBio is more favorable than Vaxcyte.

Profitability

This table compares Vaxcyte and ImmunityBio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vaxcyte	N/A	-23.53%	-22.20%
ImmunityBio	-8,016.83%	N/A	-110.02%

Summary

ImmunityBio beats Vaxcyte on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About ImmunityBio

ImmunityBio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing therapies and vaccines that bolster the natural immune system to defeat cancers and infectious diseases. Its platforms for the development of biologic product candidates include antibody-cytokine fusion proteins; DNA, RNA, and recombinant protein vaccines; and cell therapies. The company's platforms have generated therapeutic agents that are currently being or planned to be studied in clinical trials across various indications in liquid and solid tumors, including bladder, lung and colorectal cancers, and glioblastoma multiforme. Its lead biologic product candidate is Anktiva, an FDA-approved immunotherapy in combination with bacillus calmette-guérin (BCG) for the treatment of adult patients with BCG unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ, with or without papillary tumors. The company has collaboration agreements with National Cancer Institute. It also has license agreements with 3M Innovative Properties Company; Access to Advanced Health Institute; LadRx Corporation; Sanford Health; Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd.; Viracta Therapeutics, Inc.; and GlobeImmune, Inc. The company is based in San Diego, California.