AVROBIO (NASDAQ:AVRO) and HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) Critical Survey

AVROBIO (NASDAQ:AVRO) and HilleVax (NASDAQ:HLVX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AVROBIO	N/A	-74.86%	-65.11%
HilleVax	N/A	-48.17%	-38.05%

Risk & Volatility

AVROBIO has a beta of 1.22, indicating that its stock price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HilleVax has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AVROBIO	0	2	0	0	2.00
HilleVax	0	0	3	0	3.00

AVROBIO presently has a consensus target price of $2.00, suggesting a potential upside of 58.73%. HilleVax has a consensus target price of $30.67, suggesting a potential upside of 120.46%. Given HilleVax’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe HilleVax is more favorable than AVROBIO.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

62.6% of AVROBIO shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.4% of HilleVax shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.2% of AVROBIO shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.3% of HilleVax 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 AVROBIO and HilleVax’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AVROBIO	N/A	N/A	$12.16 million	($0.10)	-12.60
HilleVax	N/A	N/A	-$123.57 million	($3.04)	-4.58

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

Summary

HilleVax beats AVROBIO on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AVROBIO

AVROBIO, Inc., a clinical-stage gene therapy company, develops ex vivo lentiviral-based gene therapies to treat rare diseases following a single dose worldwide. Its gene therapies employ hematopoietic stem cells that are harvested from the patient and then modified with a lentiviral vector to insert the equivalent of a functional copy of the gene that is mutated in the target disease. The company's pipeline includes AVR-RD-02, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of Gaucher disease type 1, as well as to treat Gaucher disease type 3; AVR-RD-03 that is in preclinical stage for the treatment of Pompe disease; AVR-RD-04, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of cystinosis; and AVR-RD-05 that is in preclinical stage for the treatment of Hunter syndrome. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About HilleVax

HilleVax, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing novel vaccines. The company develops HIL-214, a virus-like particle-based vaccine candidate for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus and related illness. 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.