BetterLife Pharma (OTCMKTS:BETRF – Get Free Report) and Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and valuation.
Risk and Volatility
BetterLife Pharma has a beta of 1.23, suggesting that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wave Life Sciences has a beta of -1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 210% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares BetterLife Pharma and Wave Life Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| BetterLife Pharma | N/A | N/A | -998.84% |
| Wave Life Sciences | -66.50% | -1,395.99% | -31.99% |
Analyst Ratings
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| BetterLife Pharma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A |
| Wave Life Sciences | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 2.89 |
Wave Life Sciences has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 74.22%. Given Wave Life Sciences’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Wave Life Sciences is more favorable than BetterLife Pharma.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
0.0% of BetterLife Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Wave Life Sciences shares are held by institutional investors. 34.8% of BetterLife Pharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.1% of Wave Life Sciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares BetterLife Pharma and Wave Life Sciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| BetterLife Pharma | N/A | N/A | -$2.14 million | ($0.03) | -3.17 |
| Wave Life Sciences | $110.50 million | 9.54 | -$57.51 million | ($0.52) | -16.56 |
BetterLife Pharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Wave Life Sciences. Wave Life Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BetterLife Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
BetterLife Pharma beats Wave Life Sciences on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.
About BetterLife Pharma
BetterLife Pharma Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of compounds for the treatment of mental disorders in Canada. It is also involved in refining and developing drug candidates from a set of complementary interferon-based technologies that have the potential to engage the immune system to fight virus infections. The company's products pipeline includes BETR-001 for the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety, and neuropathic pain and other neuro-psychiatric and neurological disorders; and BETR-002 to treat benzodiazepine dependency, anxiety, and neurodegenerative disorders. It is also developing MM-003, which has completed Phase II clinical trials for treatment of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections; and MM-001, a topical cream for local intravaginal use to treat HPV-induced cervical intraepithelial neoplasia that has completed Phase II clinical trials. The company was formerly known as Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. and changed its name to BetterLife Pharma Inc. in December 2019. BetterLife Pharma Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.
About Wave Life Sciences
Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders. It is developing WVE-006, a RNA editing oligonucleotide for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; siRNA clinical candidate for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders; WVE-N531, a exon skipping oligonucleotide for the treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy; and WVE-003, an antisense silencing oligonucleotide for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD). The company has collaboration agreements with GlaxoSmithKline for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for disorders of the Central Nervous System; and Asuragen, Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of companion diagnostics for investigational allele-selective therapeutic programs targeting HD. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Singapore.
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