Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ:NERV) vs. AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) Head to Head Review

Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ:NERV) and AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability and risk.

Volatility and Risk

Minerva Neurosciences has a beta of 0.15, suggesting that its stock price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AC Immune has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Minerva Neurosciences and AC Immune’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Minerva Neurosciences	N/A	N/A	-53.19%
AC Immune	N/A	-38.44%	-33.76%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Minerva Neurosciences and AC Immune’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Minerva Neurosciences	N/A	N/A	-$30.00 million	($4.47)	-0.60
AC Immune	$15.49 million	21.58	-$60.41 million	($0.69)	-4.90

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

34.6% of Minerva Neurosciences shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.4% of AC Immune shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of Minerva Neurosciences shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.6% of AC Immune shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Minerva Neurosciences and AC Immune, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Minerva Neurosciences	0	1	0	0	2.00
AC Immune	0	0	2	0	3.00

Minerva Neurosciences currently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 87.97%. AC Immune has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 255.03%. Given AC Immune’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AC Immune is more favorable than Minerva Neurosciences.

Summary

AC Immune beats Minerva Neurosciences on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Minerva Neurosciences

Minerva Neurosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of product candidates for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is roluperidone (MIN-101) for the treatment of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, currently submitted an New Drug Application (NDA); and MIN-301, a soluble recombinant form of the neuregulin-1b1 protein for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The company has a license agreement with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation to develop, sell, and import roluperidone globally excluding Asia. Minerva Neurosciences, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Burlington, Massachusetts.

About AC Immune

AC Immune SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, designs, and develops medicines and diagnostic products for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases associated with protein misfolding. Its SupraAntigen and Morphomer platforms are designed to generate vaccines, antibodies, and small molecules, which selectively interact with misfolded proteins that are common in a range of neurodegenerative diseases. The company is developing Crenezumab, a humanized, conformation-specific monoclonal antibody, which is in Phase II clinical studies trial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is also developing ACI-24, an anti-Abeta vaccine candidate that is in Phase II clinical study for AD, as well as completed Phase Ib clinical study for Down syndrome; ACI-35, an anti-Tau vaccine candidate that is in Phase Ib/2a clinical study; and Tau- positron emission tomography (PET) imaging tracer, which is in Phase II clinical study. In addition, the company is researching and developing small molecule Tau aggregation inhibitors for AD and NeuroOrphan indications. Further, it has discovery and preclinical stage molecules targeting range of neurodegenerative diseases, which include diagnostics targeting TDP-43, alpha-synuclein, and NLRP3. AC Immune SA has license agreements and collaborations with Genentech, Inc.; Biogen International GmbH; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Life Molecular Imaging SA; Eli Lilly and Company; and WuXi Biologics. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland.