Head to Head Survey: AC Immune (NASDAQ:ACIU) and Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN)

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Silence Therapeutics	-342.00%	-62.81%	-33.89%
AC Immune	N/A	-28.26%	-18.98%

Volatility & Risk

Silence Therapeutics has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AC Immune has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.7% of Silence Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.4% of AC Immune shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Silence Therapeutics 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 large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Silence Therapeutics and AC Immune”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Silence Therapeutics	$16.25 million	7.57	-$53.82 million	($1.57)	-2.62
AC Immune	$16.48 million	14.53	-$60.41 million	($0.46)	-5.26

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Silence Therapeutics and AC Immune, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Silence Therapeutics	1	0	6	0	2.71
AC Immune	0	0	2	0	3.00

Silence Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 994.89%. AC Immune has a consensus target price of $12.00, indicating a potential upside of 395.87%. Given Silence Therapeutics’ higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Silence Therapeutics is more favorable than AC Immune.

Summary

AC Immune beats Silence Therapeutics on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Silence Therapeutics

Silence Therapeutics plc, a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery and development novel molecules incorporating short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) to inhibit the expression of specific target genes in hematology, cardiovascular, and rare diseases. The company's mRNAi GalNAc Oligonucleotide Discovery platform consists of precision engineered product candidates designed to target specific disease-associated genes in the liver. The company develops Zerlasiran (SLN360), which is in phase 2 clinical trial for cardiovascular disease associated with elevated lipoprotein(a); and Divesiran (SLN124), an siRNA molecule that is in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of genetic hematological conditions, including polycythemia vera. It is also developing SLN-COMP-1 and SLN-COMP-2 for complement-mediated diseases; and SLN-HAN-1 and SLN-HAN-2. It has collaboration agreements with AstraZeneca PLC to discover, develop, and commercialize siRNA therapeutics for the treatment of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, and respiratory diseases; Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited to develop siRNAs; and Mallinckrodt Pharma IP Trading DAC to develop and commercialize RNAi drug targets designed to silence the complement cascade in complement-mediated disorders. The company was formerly known as SR Pharma plc and changed its name to Silence Therapeutics plc in May 2007. Silence Therapeutics plc was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

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.