Comparing Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) & Innate Pharma (OTCMKTS:IPHYF)

Innate Pharma (OTCMKTS:IPHYF) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Innate Pharma and Valneva, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Innate Pharma	0	0	0	0	N/A
Valneva	0	0	3	0	3.00

Valneva has a consensus price target of $21.67, suggesting a potential upside of 239.07%. Given Valneva’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Valneva is more favorable than Innate Pharma.

Profitability

This table compares Innate Pharma and Valneva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Innate Pharma	N/A	N/A	N/A
Valneva	-21.31%	-20.01%	-6.58%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Innate Pharma and Valneva”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Innate Pharma	$66.71 million	2.77	-$8.19 million	N/A	N/A
Valneva	$150.78 million	2.95	-$109.78 million	($0.41)	-15.59

Innate Pharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Valneva.

Volatility and Risk

Innate Pharma has a beta of 1.18, indicating that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 2.19, indicating that its share price is 119% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.9% of Innate Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Valneva beats Innate Pharma on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Innate Pharma

Innate Pharma S.A., a biotechnology company, develops immunotherapies for cancer patients in France and internationally. The company's products include Lacutamab (IPH4102), an anti-KIR3DL2 antibody, which is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of cutaneous T-cell and peripheral T-cell lymphoma, as well as in Phase II clinical trials to treat refractory sézary syndrome; Monalizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that is in Phase III clinical trial to treat advanced solid tumors comprising colorectal and lung cancer, as well as head and neck cancer; IPH5201, a blocking antibody that is in Phase II clinical trials targeting the CD39 immunosuppressive pathway; IPH5301, an anti-CD73 antibody targeting the immunosuppressive adenosine pathway to promote antitumor immunity; IPH6401, an BCMA-targeting NK cell engager; and IPH6101, a NKp46-based NK cell engager that targets CD123 proprietary multi-specific antibody format; and IPH62, an B7-H3-targeting NK cell engager. Its products in preclinical trials are IPH43, an anti-MICA/B ADC and IPH45, an antibody drug conjugates (ADC); and IPH67, an undisclosed, multi-specific ANKET. The company has licensing and collaboration agreements with AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk A/S, Sanofi, and Orega Biotech; and co-development and license agreement with MedImmune Limited. Innate Pharma S.A. was incorporated in 1999 and is headquartered in Marseille, France.

About Valneva

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine. The company also develops VLA15, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease; VLA1553, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against the chikungunya virus; VLA1554, a vaccine candidate targeting human metapneumovirus; and VLA2112, a vaccine candidate to treat patients with epstein-barr virus. It sells its products in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Nordics, the United Kingdom, France, rest of European countries, and internationally. Valneva SE has collaborations with Pfizer, Inc. to co-develop and commercialize its Lyme disease vaccine; and Instituto Butantan for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of single-shot chikungunya vaccine. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Saint-Herblain, France.