Comparing Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) and Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN)

Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) and Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and earnings.

Profitability

This table compares Qiagen and Denali Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Qiagen	17.38%	12.59%	7.67%
Denali Therapeutics	-36.51%	-11.46%	-10.40%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Qiagen and Denali Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Qiagen	0	4	5	0	2.56
Denali Therapeutics	0	1	8	0	2.89

Qiagen presently has a consensus price target of $51.17, suggesting a potential upside of 22.24%. Denali Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $40.22, suggesting a potential upside of 77.74%. Given Denali Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Denali Therapeutics is more favorable than Qiagen.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Qiagen and Denali Therapeutics’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Qiagen	$1.94 billion	4.93	$341.30 million	$1.49	28.09
Denali Therapeutics	$330.53 million	9.76	-$145.22 million	($0.96)	-23.57

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

Risk & Volatility

Qiagen has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.0% of Qiagen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.0% of Qiagen shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Qiagen beats Denali Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Qiagen

QIAGEN N.V. offers sample to insight solutions that transform biological materials into molecular insights worldwide. The company provides primary sample technology consumables, such as nucleic stabilization and purification kits for primary sample materials, manual and automated processing for genotyping, gene expression, and viral and bacterial analysis, as well as silica membranes and magnetic bead technologies; secondary sample technology consumables, including kits and components for purification of nucleic acids from secondary sample materials; and instruments for nucleic acid purification and accessories. It also provides interferon-gamma release assay for TB testing, and assays for post-transplant testing and viral load monitoring; assays for prenatal testing and detection of sexually transmitted diseases and HPV, as well as assays for analysis of genomic variants, such as mutations, insertions, deletions, and fusions; and sample to insight instruments, including one-step molecular analysis of hard-to-diagnose syndromes, and integrated PCR testing. In addition, it offers PCR consumables, such as quantitative PCR, reverse transcription, and combinations kits for analysis of gene expression, genotyping and gene regulation, and running on QIAGEN instruments and technologies; human ID and forensics assay consumables, including STR assays for human ID, and assays for food contamination; PCR instruments consist of digital PCR and qPCR solutions; and developed and configured enzymes and PCR solutions. Further, the company provides predefined and custom NGS gene panels, library prep kits and components, and whole genome amplification; QIAGEN consumables and instruments, as well as bioinformatics solutions; and custom laboratory and genomic services. It serves molecular diagnostics, academia, pharmaceutical, and applied testing customers. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Venlo, the Netherlands.

About Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company's transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson's disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.