Head to Head Contrast: Vaccinex (NASDAQ:VCNX) & Palatin Technologies (PINK:PTNT)

Vaccinex (NASDAQ:VCNX) and Palatin Technologies (PINK:PTNT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, dividends and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.1% of Vaccinex shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Palatin Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 51.5% of Vaccinex shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Palatin Technologies shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Vaccinex and Palatin Technologies”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vaccinex	$388,000.00	3.18	-$20.25 million	($48.27)	-0.01
Palatin Technologies	$4.49 million	32.44	-$29.74 million	($1.55)	-3.61

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

Profitability

This table compares Vaccinex and Palatin Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vaccinex	N/A	N/A	-383.58%
Palatin Technologies	N/A	N/A	-365.57%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Vaccinex and Palatin Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vaccinex	0	0	0	0	0.00
Palatin Technologies	0	0	1	0	3.00

Palatin Technologies has a consensus price target of $350.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6,150.00%. Given Palatin Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Palatin Technologies is more favorable than Vaccinex.

Risk and Volatility

Vaccinex has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Palatin Technologies has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Palatin Technologies beats Vaccinex on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vaccinex

Vaccinex, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the discovery and development of targeted biotherapeutics to treat cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and autoimmune disorders. The company's lead drug candidate, pepinemab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds and blocks the activity of SEMA4D. It is developing Pepinemab, which is in phase 2 study for treatment of Alzheimer's disease and has completed phase 2 study for treatment of Huntington's disease; Pepinemab in combination with Pembrolizumab in phase 2 study for head and neck cancer, Avelumab in phase 2 study for pancreatic cancer, and completed phase 2 study with Avelumab for non-small cell lung cancer; and Pepinemab in combination with Nivolumab completed phase 2 study for melanoma, and trastuzumab and DC vaccine in phase 2 study for breast cancer. The company has also developed ActivMAb, an antibody drug discovery platform based on a novel method for complex targets, such as multi-pass membrane receptors or large and diverse libraries of full-length human monoclonal antibodies on the surface of pox viruses. It has collaborations with Merck Sharp & Dohme; Ares Trading S.A.; The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Emory University; Huntington Study Group; H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Inc; Catalent Pharma Solutions, LLC; Surface Oncology, Inc.; and Pharmaceutical and Biotech Co. The company was incorporated in 2001 and is headquartered in Rochester, New York.

About Palatin Technologies

Palatin Technologies, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops targeted receptor-specific therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases in the United States. The company's lead product is Vyleesi, a melanocortin receptor (MCr) agonist for the treatment of premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. It is also developing oral PL8177, a selective MC1r agonist peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, the company engages in the development of PL9643, a peptide melanocortin agonist active at multiple MCrs, including MC1r and MC5r for anti-inflammatory ocular indications, such as dry eye disease, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; and melanocortin peptides for diabetic retinopathy. Further, it is developing PL8177, an oral peptide formulation for treatment of ulcerative colitis, which entered Phase 2 clinical trials. The company was founded in 1986 and is based in Cranbury, New Jersey.