Galmed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GLMD) and Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.
Risk and Volatility
Galmed Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 2.3, meaning that its stock price is 130% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wave Life Sciences has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Galmed Pharmaceuticals and Wave Life Sciences, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Galmed Pharmaceuticals | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.71 |
Wave Life Sciences | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2.50 |
Galmed Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $18.1429, suggesting a potential upside of 490.97%. Wave Life Sciences has a consensus price target of $11.80, suggesting a potential upside of 88.20%. Given Galmed Pharmaceuticals' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Galmed Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Wave Life Sciences.
Insider and Institutional Ownership
31.5% of Galmed Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.7% of Wave Life Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.2% of Wave Life Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Galmed Pharmaceuticals and Wave Life Sciences' top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Galmed Pharmaceuticals | $2.04 million | 37.75 | $-20,460,000.00 | ($0.97) | -3.16 |
Wave Life Sciences | $15.98 million | 19.22 | $-193,640,000.00 | ($5.72) | -1.10 |
Galmed Pharmaceuticals has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Wave Life Sciences. Galmed Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wave Life Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Galmed Pharmaceuticals and Wave Life Sciences' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Galmed Pharmaceuticals | N/A | -43.28% | -39.33% |
Wave Life Sciences | -1,562.01% | -401.32% | -72.82% |
Summary
Galmed Pharmaceuticals beats Wave Life Sciences on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.