Financial Comparison: Altimmune (NASDAQ:ALT) & Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI)
by Renee Jackson · The Cerbat GemAltimmune (NASDAQ:ALT – Get Free Report) and Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI – Get Free Report) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Altimmune and Denali Therapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Altimmune | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.67 |
| Denali Therapeutics | 1 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 2.75 |
Altimmune presently has a consensus target price of $14.33, suggesting a potential upside of 341.03%. Denali Therapeutics has a consensus target price of $35.85, suggesting a potential upside of 81.78%. Given Altimmune’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Altimmune is more favorable than Denali Therapeutics.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Altimmune and Denali Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Altimmune | $40,000.00 | 15,804.75 | -$88.09 million | ($0.78) | -4.17 |
| Denali Therapeutics | $330.53 million | 9.54 | -$512.54 million | ($2.84) | -6.94 |
Altimmune has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Denali Therapeutics. Denali Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Altimmune, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Altimmune and Denali Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Altimmune | -214,860.98% | -31.41% | -26.96% |
| Denali Therapeutics | N/A | -55.27% | -44.24% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
78.0% of Altimmune shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.9% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of Altimmune shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of Denali Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Volatility and Risk
Altimmune has a beta of 0.18, suggesting that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Denali Therapeutics has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.
About Altimmune
Altimmune, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing treatments for obesity and liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, pemvidutide, a GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist that is in Phase 2 trial for the treatment of obesity and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It is also developing HepTcell, an immunotherapeutic product candidate, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for patients chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus. The company was formerly known as Vaxin Inc. and changed its name to Altimmune, Inc. in September 2015. Altimmune, Inc. was founded in 1997 is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
About Denali Therapeutics
Denali Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops a portfolio of product candidates engineered to cross the blood-brain barrier for neurodegenerative diseases and lysosomal storage diseases in the United States. The company’s transport vehicle (TV)-enabled programs include DNL310 ETV, an IDS enzyme replacement therapy program for MPS II; TAK-594/DNL593 which is in Phase 1/II for frontotemporal dementia-granulin; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA; and DNL622 for MPS I, as well as other preclinical programs that target amyloid beta and HER2. Its brain-penetrant small molecule programs comprise BIIB122/DNL151 LRRK2 inhibitor program for Parkinson’s disease; SAR443820/DNL788 RIPK1 inhibitor program for CNS disease; DNL343 eIF2B Activator program for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and SAR443122/DNL758 RIPK1 inhibitor program for peripheral inflammatory diseases. It also provides early stage program include TAK-594/DNL593 program for FTD-GRN; DNL126 program for MPS IIIA, a Sanfilippo Syndrome A; DNL622 for MPS I which is Hurler syndrome; Antibody Transport Vehicle Amyloid beta program; Oligonucleotide Transport Vehicle platform, a novel class of biotherapeutics to address the root cause of diseases through modulation of gene expression; and other TV-enabled discovery programs. The company has collaboration agreements with Biogen MA Inc. and Biogen International GmbH; Genzyme Corporation; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; F-star Gamma Limited, F-star Biotechnologische Forschungs-und Entwicklungsges m.b.H, and F-star Biotechnology Limited; and Genentech, Inc. The company was formerly known as SPR Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Denali Therapeutics Inc. in March 2015. Denali Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.