Head-To-Head Survey: Adagene (NASDAQ:ADAG) versus Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT)

Adagene (NASDAQ:ADAG) and Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

9.5% of Adagene shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.1% of Altimmune shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.2% of Adagene shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Altimmune shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Adagene and Altimmune’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adagene	$18.11 million	6.14	-$18.95 million	N/A	N/A
Altimmune	$430,000.00	1,112.97	-$88.45 million	($1.59)	-4.25

Adagene has higher revenue and earnings than Altimmune.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Adagene and Altimmune, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adagene	0	0	1	0	3.00
Altimmune	0	2	4	0	2.67

Adagene currently has a consensus target price of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 98.41%. Altimmune has a consensus target price of $18.80, suggesting a potential upside of 178.52%. Given Altimmune’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Altimmune is more favorable than Adagene.

Profitability

This table compares Adagene and Altimmune’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adagene	N/A	N/A	N/A
Altimmune	-22,645.37%	-46.96%	-42.96%

Volatility & Risk

Adagene has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Altimmune has a beta of 0.13, meaning that its stock price is 87% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Adagene beats Altimmune on 8 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adagene

Adagene Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, engages in the research, development, and production of monoclonal antibody drugs for cancers. The company's product candidates include ADG106, a human ligand-blocking agonistic anti- CD137 IgG4 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trials for the treatment advanced solid tumors and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; ADG126, a masked fully-human anti-CTLA-4 mAb that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment advanced/metastatic solid tumors; and ADG116, a human ligand-blocking anti-CTLA-4 mAb, which is in Phase 1b/2 clinical development for the treatment of advanced/metastatic solid tumors. It also offers ADG104, an anti-PD-L1 mAb that is in Phase 2 clinical development; ADG125, a novel anti-CSF-1R mAb, which is in Phase I clinical trial; ADG206, a masked, Fc engineered anti-CD137 agonistic POWERbody; ADG153, a masked anti-CD47 IgG1 SAFEbody, which is in preclinical for the treatment hematologic and solid tumors; ADG138, novel HER2xCD3 POWERbody, which is in preclinical for the treatment HER2-expressing solid tumors; and ADG152, a v POWERbody, which is in preclinical stage for the treatment off-tumor toxicities, as well as develops anti-CD28 bispecific POWERbody TCEs. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Suzhou, China.

About Altimmune

Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It is also developing HepTcell, an immunotherapeutic product candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. The company was formerly known as Vaxin Inc. and changed its name to Altimmune, Inc. in September 2015. Altimmune, Inc. was founded in 1997 is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.