Critical Comparison: TScan Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TCRX) and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

TScan Therapeutics (NASDAQ:TCRX) and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares TScan Therapeutics and Novavax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TScan Therapeutics	-1,188.88%	-58.72%	-36.02%
Novavax	-32.18%	N/A	-17.05%

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TScan Therapeutics	$2.82 million	37.53	-$89.22 million	($1.15)	-1.72
Novavax	$682.16 million	1.97	-$545.06 million	($1.33)	-6.27

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

82.8% of TScan Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 53.0% of Novavax shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.8% of TScan Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Novavax shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

TScan Therapeutics has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novavax has a beta of 2.92, indicating that its stock price is 192% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for TScan Therapeutics and Novavax, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TScan Therapeutics	0	0	5	0	3.00
Novavax	1	2	4	0	2.43

TScan Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $9.20, indicating a potential upside of 364.65%. Novavax has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 115.83%. Given TScan Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe TScan Therapeutics is more favorable than Novavax.

Summary

TScan Therapeutics beats Novavax on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TScan Therapeutics

TScan Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) therapies for the treatment of patients with cancer in the United States. The company's lead product candidates include TSC-100 and TSC-101 that is in Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with hematologic malignancies to eliminate residual disease and prevent relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. It also develops TSC-200, TSC-201, TSC-203, and TSC-204, which are in Phase 1 clinical trial, for the treatment of solid tumors; and TSC-202 to treat solid tumors. In addition, the company develops vaccines for infectious diseases, such as SARS-CoV-2. It has collaborations with Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc. To discover and develop novel TCR-T therapies; and Amgen Inc. to identify antigens recognized by T cells in patients with Crohn's disease using TargetScan, a proprietary target discovery platform. TScan Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc., a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response. It focuses on urgent health challenges, which is evaluating vaccines for COVID-19, influenza, and COVID-19 influenza combination. The company is commercializing a COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373 under the brand names of Nuvaxovid, Covovax, and Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, adjuvanted for adult and adolescent populations as a primary series and for both homologous and heterologous booster indications. It is also developing R21/Matrix-M adjuvant malaria vaccine. Novavax, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.