Exagen (NASDAQ:XGN – Get Rating) and Viridian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VRDN – Get Rating) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

53.9% of Exagen shares are held by institutional investors. 38.9% of Exagen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Viridian Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Exagen and Viridian Therapeutics' gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Exagen has higher revenue and earnings than Viridian Therapeutics. Viridian Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Exagen, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Exagen has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its share price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Viridian Therapeutics has a beta of 0.99, suggesting that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Exagen and Viridian Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.

Exagen currently has a consensus price target of $9.60, suggesting a potential upside of 287.10%. Viridian Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $44.60, suggesting a potential upside of 35.69%. Given Exagen's higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Exagen is more favorable than Viridian Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Exagen and Viridian Therapeutics' net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Summary

Exagen beats Viridian Therapeutics on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exagen

(Get Rating)

Exagen Inc. develops and commercializes various testing products based on its cell-bound complement activation products technology under the AVISE brand in the United States. It enables rheumatologists to care for patients through the diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of autoimmune and autoimmune-related diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Its lead testing product is AVISE CTD that enables differential diagnosis for patients presenting with symptoms indicative of various connective tissue diseases (CTDs) and other related diseases with overlapping symptoms. The company offers AVISE Lupus that measures activation of the complement system by quantifying the level of B-cell C4d and erythrocyte bound C4d in the patient's blood; and AVISE APS, which consists of a panel of autoantibody tests that aids in the diagnosis and management of APS. In addition, it provides AVISE SLE Prognostic, a panel of autoantibodies for assessing the potential for complications affecting the kidney, brain, and cardiovascular system; AVISE Vasculitis AAV, which utilizes a testing panel of individual analytes to provide physicians with results in the assessment and monitoring of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody and associated vasculitis; AVISE Anti-CarP test, which identifies RA patients with severe disease; and AVISE PC4d to measure platelet- bound C4d. Further, the company offers AVISE SLE Monitor, a biomarker blood test; AVISE MTX, a patented and validated blood test; and AVISE HCQ, a blood test to monitor levels of hydroxychloroquine. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) Research Institute to develop novel patented biomarkers. The company was formerly known as Exagen Diagnostics, Inc. and changed its name to Exagen Inc. in January 2019. Exagen Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vista, California.

About Viridian Therapeutics

(Get Rating)

Viridian Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development of proprietary RNA-targeted therapeutics. Its product candidates include Cobomarsen, which treats patients with certain cancers, including cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, and Remlarsen and MRG-229, which are made for the treatment of patients with pathological fibrosis. The company was founded by William S. Marshall and Bruce L. Booth in February 2006 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA.

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