ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX) versus Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) Critical Analysis

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

8.6% of ImmunityBio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.8% of Vaxcyte shares are owned by institutional investors. 83.4% of ImmunityBio shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Vaxcyte 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.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ImmunityBio	$7.33 million	288.45	-$583.20 million	($0.92)	-3.30
Vaxcyte	N/A	N/A	-$402.27 million	($4.60)	-17.16

Vaxcyte has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.

Analyst Recommendations

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

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

ImmunityBio currently has a consensus target price of $13.58, suggesting a potential upside of 347.56%. Vaxcyte has a consensus target price of $147.50, suggesting a potential upside of 86.90%. Given ImmunityBio’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe ImmunityBio is more favorable than Vaxcyte.

Profitability

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

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

Risk and Volatility

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

Summary

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

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.

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.