Head to Head Review: ALX Oncology (NASDAQ:ALXO) versus Inventiva (NASDAQ:IVA)

ALX Oncology (NASDAQ:ALXO) and Inventiva (NASDAQ:IVA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares ALX Oncology and Inventiva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ALX Oncology	N/A	-93.02%	-70.67%
Inventiva	N/A	N/A	N/A

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.0% of ALX Oncology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.1% of Inventiva shares are held by institutional investors. 33.4% of ALX Oncology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 32.0% of Inventiva shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for ALX Oncology and Inventiva, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ALX Oncology	0	2	4	0	2.67
Inventiva	0	1	4	0	2.80

ALX Oncology currently has a consensus price target of $12.50, suggesting a potential upside of 744.59%. Inventiva has a consensus price target of $13.25, suggesting a potential upside of 400.00%. Given ALX Oncology’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe ALX Oncology is more favorable than Inventiva.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares ALX Oncology and Inventiva”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ALX Oncology	N/A	N/A	-$160.80 million	($2.98)	-0.50
Inventiva	$18.91 million	7.35	-$119.51 million	N/A	N/A

Inventiva has higher revenue and earnings than ALX Oncology.

Risk and Volatility

ALX Oncology has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Inventiva has a beta of 0.86, meaning that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Inventiva beats ALX Oncology on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ALX Oncology

ALX Oncology Holdings Inc., a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, focuses on developing therapies for cancer patients in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is Evorpacept, a CD47 blocking therapeutic biologic in development as a combination therapy with other anti-cancer agents, including ASPEN-06, under Phase 2 clinical study for treating Gastric/GEJ cancer; ASPEN-07, under Phase 1 clinical study for treating urothelial cancer; and ASPEN-03 and ASPEN-04, both under Phase 2 clinical study for treating head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. It also has collaboration agreement for Evorpacept combination programs comprising Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc for zanidatamab, under Phase 1 trial for the treatment of breast cancer and other solid tumors; Quantum Leap Healthcare collaborative with an ADC, fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki, under Phase 1 trial for the treatment of patients with breast cancer; MD Anderson Cancer Center with rituximab and lenalidomide for the treatment of patients with indolent and aggressive NHL; Sanofi with isatuximab and dexamethasone, under Phase 1/2 trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Academic Gastrointestinal Cancer Consortium with pembrolizumab and cetuximab, under Phase 2 trial to treat refractory microsatellite stable metastatic colorectal cancer; and University of Pittsburgh with liposomal doxorubicin and pembrolizumab, under Phase 2 trial recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. In addition, the company has collaboration agreement with Tallac Therapeutics, Inc. for the development of ALTA-002, a potent immune activator targeted to myeloid cells in the tumor to promote innate and adaptive anti-cancer immune responses. It also has license agreements with Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University, Selexis SA, and Crystal Bioscience, Inc. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.

About Inventiva

Inventiva S.A., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of oral small molecule therapies for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and other diseases. Its lead product candidate is Lanifibranor, which is in Phase III clinical trial to treat NASH. The company also develops Odiparcil for the treatment of patients with mucopolysaccharidoses type VI. In addition, it has a pipeline of earlier stage programs in oncology and other diseases. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Daix, France.