Head to Head Contrast: Guided Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:GTHP) vs. Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN)
by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets DailyGuided Therapeutics (OTCMKTS:GTHP – Get Free Report) and Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of current ratings for Guided Therapeutics and Valneva, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Guided Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Valneva | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2.50 |
Valneva has a consensus price target of $15.00, indicating a potential upside of 85.64%. Given Valneva’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Valneva is more favorable than Guided Therapeutics.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Guided Therapeutics and Valneva”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Guided Therapeutics | $10,000.00 | 3,004.23 | -$2.42 million | ($0.05) | -6.99 |
| Valneva | $183.52 million | 3.79 | -$13.25 million | ($1.44) | -5.61 |
Guided Therapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Valneva. Guided Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Valneva, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
Guided Therapeutics has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Valneva has a beta of 1.83, indicating that its share price is 83% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
9.7% of Guided Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. 66.8% of Guided Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Guided Therapeutics and Valneva’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Guided Therapeutics | N/A | N/A | -246.42% |
| Valneva | -57.81% | -59.44% | -21.65% |
Summary
Valneva beats Guided Therapeutics on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Guided Therapeutics
Guided Therapeutics, Inc., a medical technology company, focuses on developing medical devices. It focuses on the commercialization of LuViva, a non-invasive cervical cancer detection device that identifies cervical cancers and precancers painlessly, non-invasively, and at the point-of-care by scanning the cervix with light, then analyzing the light reflected and fluorescent light. The company was formerly known as SpectRx, Inc. and changed its name to Guided Therapeutics, Inc. in February 2008. Guided Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 1992 and is based in Norcross, Georgia.
About Valneva
Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine. The company also develops VLA15, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease; VLA1553, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against the chikungunya virus; VLA1554, a vaccine candidate targeting human metapneumovirus; and VLA2112, a vaccine candidate to treat patients with epstein-barr virus. It sells its products in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Nordics, the United Kingdom, France, rest of European countries, and internationally. Valneva SE has collaborations with Pfizer, Inc. to co-develop and commercialize its Lyme disease vaccine; and Instituto Butantan for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of single-shot chikungunya vaccine. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Saint-Herblain, France.