Head to Head Contrast: Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) vs. Surrozen (NASDAQ:SRZN)

Surrozen (NASDAQ:SRZN) and Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.6% of Surrozen shares are owned by institutional investors. 43.5% of Surrozen shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Vericel shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Surrozen has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericel has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Surrozen and Vericel’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Surrozen	N/A	-120.51%	-54.68%
Vericel	1.56%	1.48%	0.96%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Surrozen and Vericel”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Surrozen	$10.00 million	3.43	-$43.04 million	N/A	N/A
Vericel	$226.84 million	12.29	-$3.18 million	$0.06	941.67

Vericel has higher revenue and earnings than Surrozen.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Surrozen and Vericel, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Surrozen	0	0	0	0	0.00
Vericel	0	0	6	1	3.14

Vericel has a consensus target price of $61.14, suggesting a potential upside of 8.22%. Given Vericel’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vericel is more favorable than Surrozen.

Summary

Vericel beats Surrozen on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Surrozen

Surrozen, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops drug candidates to selectively modulate the Wnt pathway for tissue repair. The company is developing antibody-based therapeutics which targets various disease areas, including diseases of the intestine, liver, retina, cornea, lung, kidney, cochlea, skin, pancreas, and central nervous system. Its products in pipeline include SZN-043, a hepatocyte-specific R-spondin mimetic bispecific fusion protein, which is in Phase 1b clinical trial for the treatment of severe liver diseases, including alcohol-associated hepatitis. The company develops SZN-413, a Fzd4 targeted bi-specific antibody for the treatment of retinal vascular associated diseases. Surrozen, Inc. has collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH to research, develop, and commercialize Fzd4 bi-specific antibodies. Surrozen, Inc. is based in South San Francisco, California.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.