Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) and REGENXBIO (NASDAQ:RGNX) Head to Head Review

REGENXBIO (NASDAQ:RGNX) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.1% of REGENXBIO shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Moderna shares are held by institutional investors. 13.1% of REGENXBIO shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.7% of Moderna shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

REGENXBIO has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moderna has a beta of 1.67, indicating that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares REGENXBIO and Moderna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
REGENXBIO	-270.74%	-68.21%	-40.07%
Moderna	-116.18%	-21.35%	-15.75%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for REGENXBIO and Moderna, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
REGENXBIO	0	2	11	0	2.85
Moderna	1	8	7	0	2.38

REGENXBIO currently has a consensus target price of $38.25, suggesting a potential upside of 222.24%. Moderna has a consensus target price of $124.07, suggesting a potential upside of 42.71%. Given REGENXBIO’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe REGENXBIO is more favorable than Moderna.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
REGENXBIO	$89.04 million	6.57	-$263.49 million	($5.88)	-2.02
Moderna	$4.99 billion	6.68	-$4.71 billion	($15.67)	-5.55

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

About REGENXBIO

REGENXBIO Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides gene therapies that deliver functional genes to cells with genetic defects in the United States. Its gene therapy product candidates are based on NAV Technology Platform, a proprietary adeno-associated virus gene delivery platform. The company's products in pipeline includes ABBV-RGX-314 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other chronic retinal diseases; and RGX-202, which is in Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It also develops RGX-121 for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type II that is in Phase III clinical trial; RGX-111 for treating mucopolysaccharidosis type I; RGX-181 for the treatment of late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type II; and RGX-381 to treat the ocular manifestations of CLN2 disease. In addition, the company licenses its NAV Technology Platform to other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Further, it has a collaboration and license agreement with AbbVie Global Enterprises Ltd. to develop ABBV-RGX-314 outside the United States. REGENXBIO Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines. The company also offers systemic secreted and cell surface therapeutics; cancer vaccines, such as personalized cancer, KRAS, and checkpoint vaccines; intratumoral immuno-oncology products; rare disease intracellular therapeutics; and inhaled pulmonary therapeutics. It has strategic alliances and collaborations with AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated; Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.; Metagenomi, Inc.; Carisma Therapeutics, Inc.; CytomX Therapeutics; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Institute for Life Changing Medicines; and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company was formerly known as Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Moderna, Inc. in August 2018. Moderna, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.