Head-To-Head Review: WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) versus MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD)

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) and WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

49.5% of MannKind shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.6% of MannKind shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares MannKind 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
MannKind	$393.63 million	2.86	$5.86 million	($0.13)	-26.92
WAVE Life Sciences	$42.73 million	16.57	-$204.38 million	($1.07)	-3.36

MannKind has higher revenue and earnings than WAVE Life Sciences. MannKind is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WAVE Life Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for MannKind and WAVE Life Sciences, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MannKind	1	2	8	0	2.64
WAVE Life Sciences	1	2	15	2	2.90

MannKind presently has a consensus target price of $8.08, indicating a potential upside of 130.95%. WAVE Life Sciences has a consensus target price of $20.89, indicating a potential upside of 481.86%. Given WAVE Life Sciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe WAVE Life Sciences is more favorable than MannKind.

Profitability

This table compares MannKind and WAVE Life Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MannKind	-11.08%	N/A	-6.31%
WAVE Life Sciences	-296.86%	-44.66%	-36.80%

Volatility and Risk

MannKind has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WAVE Life Sciences has a beta of -1.43, meaning that its stock price is 243% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

WAVE Life Sciences beats MannKind on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MannKind

MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products for endocrine and orphan lung diseases in the United States. It offers Afrezza, an inhaled insulin used to improve glycemic control in adults with diabetes, and the V-Go wearable insulin delivery device, which provides continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin in adults. The company's product pipeline also includes Tyvaso DPI (Treprostinil), an inhalation powder for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease; MNKD-101, a nebulized formulation of clofazimine, for the treatment of severe chronic and recurrent pulmonary infections, including nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease; MNKD-201, a dry-powder formulation of nintedanib, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). In addition, it has collaboration and license agreement with United Therapeutics Corporation for development, regulatory, and commercial activities of Tyvaso DPI; co-promotion agreement with Vertice Pharma to promote Thyquidity; and collaboration agreement with Thirona to evaluate the therapeutic for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis. Further, the company has supply and distribution agreement with Biomm S.A. for the commercialization of Afrezza in Brazil; and license and distribution agreement with Cipla Ltd. for the marketing and distribution of Afrezza in India. MannKind Corporation was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut.

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.