Analyzing Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) and REGENXBIO (NASDAQ:RGNX)

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) and REGENXBIO (NASDAQ:RGNX) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Arbutus Biopharma and REGENXBIO, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arbutus Biopharma	0	1	1	0	2.50
REGENXBIO	1	3	9	0	2.62

Arbutus Biopharma presently has a consensus target price of $5.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.89%. REGENXBIO has a consensus target price of $23.27, indicating a potential upside of 186.57%. Given REGENXBIO’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe REGENXBIO is more favorable than Arbutus Biopharma.

Profitability

This table compares Arbutus Biopharma and REGENXBIO’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arbutus Biopharma	84.22%	90.98%	82.34%
REGENXBIO	-112.58%	-220.07%	-46.04%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Arbutus Biopharma and REGENXBIO”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arbutus Biopharma	$14.08 million	70.98	-$33.50 million	$0.79	6.39
REGENXBIO	$170.44 million	3.15	-$193.88 million	($3.79)	-2.14

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.8% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of REGENXBIO shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.9% of Arbutus Biopharma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of REGENXBIO shares are owned by company 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.

Risk & Volatility

Arbutus Biopharma has a beta of 0.62, indicating that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, REGENXBIO has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Arbutus Biopharma beats REGENXBIO on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression. The company’s research and development programs include AB-101, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor to reawaken patients’ HBV-specific immune system; and small molecule antiviral medicines to treat coronaviruses, including COVID-19. It has licensing agreements with Gritstone Oncology, Inc; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Qilu Pharmaceuticals Co, Ltd; Assembly Biosciences, Inc.; Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.; and Antios Therapeutics, Inc. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation also has a clinical collaboration agreement with Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc to evaluate VTP-300. The company was formerly known as Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Arbutus Biopharma Corporation in July 2015. Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is headquartered in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

About REGENXBIO

REGENXBIO Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, provides gene therapies that deliver functional genes to cells with genetic defects in the United States. Its gene therapy product candidates are based on NAV Technology Platform, a proprietary adeno-associated virus gene delivery platform. The company’s products in pipeline includes ABBV-RGX-314 for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and other chronic retinal diseases; and RGX-202, which is in Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. It also develops RGX-121 for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis type II that is in Phase III clinical trial; RGX-111 for treating mucopolysaccharidosis type I; RGX-181 for the treatment of late infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type II; and RGX-381 to treat the ocular manifestations of CLN2 disease. In addition, the company licenses its NAV Technology Platform to other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Further, it has a collaboration and license agreement with AbbVie Global Enterprises Ltd. to develop ABBV-RGX-314 outside the United States. REGENXBIO Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Rockville, Maryland.