Evogene (NASDAQ:EVGN) & Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR) Head-To-Head Review
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemEvogene (NASDAQ:EVGN – Get Free Report) and Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VYGR – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Evogene and Voyager Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Evogene | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Voyager Therapeutics | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.75 |
Voyager Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 859.30%. Given Voyager Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Voyager Therapeutics is more favorable than Evogene.
Profitability
This table compares Evogene and Voyager Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Evogene | -694.18% | -156.53% | -86.80% |
| Voyager Therapeutics | -312.63% | -57.92% | -45.00% |
Volatility & Risk
Evogene has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Voyager Therapeutics has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Evogene and Voyager Therapeutics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Evogene | $3.85 million | 0.85 | -$8.48 million | ($0.91) | -0.41 |
| Voyager Therapeutics | $40.37 million | 2.63 | -$119.72 million | ($1.80) | -0.96 |
Evogene has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Voyager Therapeutics. Voyager Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Evogene, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
10.4% of Evogene shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 7.4% of Evogene shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.7% of Voyager Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
Voyager Therapeutics beats Evogene on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Evogene
Evogene Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a computational biology company. It focuses on product discovery and development in life-science based industries, including human health and agriculture, through the use of its Computational Predictive Biology (CPB) platform. The company operates through three segments: Agriculture, Human Health, and Industrial Applications. The Agriculture segment develops seed traits, ag-chemical products, and ag-biological products to enhance plant performance. Its products focus on various crops, such as corn, soybean, wheat, rice, and cotton. The Human Health segment discovers and develops human microbiome-based therapeutics for the treatment of immuno-oncology, GI related disorders, and antimicrobial resistance organisms. The Industrial Applications segment develops enhanced castor bean seeds to serve as a feedstock source for other industrial uses. The company also provides medical cannabis products. It operates in the United States, Israel, Brazil, and internationally. The company has strategic collaborations and licensing agreements with agricultural companies, such as BASF SE, Corteva, and Bayer. Evogene Ltd. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel.
About Voyager Therapeutics
Voyager Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company, focuses on the treatment of gene therapy and neurology diseases. The company's lead clinical candidate is VY-TAU01, an anti-tau antibody program for the treatment of alzheimer's disease. Its product pipeline includes superoxide dismutase 1 silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; tau silencing gene therapy, which is in preclinical trial for the treatment of alzheimer's disease; and vectorized anti-amyloid antibody, a gene therapy targeting anti-amyloid for the treatment of alzheimer's disease and is in preclinical trial. In addition, the company develops VY-FXN01, which is in preclinical trial to treat friedreich's ataxia; and GBA1 gene replacement to treat parkinson's disease and is in preclinical trial. Further, it provides research program for the treatment of Huntington's disease. The company has collaboration and license agreements with Alexion; AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Novartis Pharma AG; Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc; and Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. Voyager Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts.