Comparing Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) and Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL)

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) and Vigil Neuroscience (NASDAQ:VIGL) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

83.6% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of Vericel shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.0% of Vigil Neuroscience shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Vericel has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vigil Neuroscience has a beta of 1.95, suggesting that its stock price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Vericel and Vigil Neuroscience’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vericel	0.37%	0.35%	0.22%
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	-76.02%	-62.85%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vericel and Vigil Neuroscience”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vericel	$214.52 million	9.91	-$3.18 million	($0.01)	-4,375.00
Vigil Neuroscience	N/A	N/A	-$82.64 million	($2.12)	-1.69

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Vericel and Vigil Neuroscience, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vericel	0	0	7	0	3.00
Vigil Neuroscience	1	0	4	0	2.60

Vericel presently has a consensus price target of $57.71, suggesting a potential upside of 31.92%. Vigil Neuroscience has a consensus price target of $16.60, suggesting a potential upside of 363.69%. Given Vigil Neuroscience’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Vigil Neuroscience is more favorable than Vericel.

Summary

Vericel beats Vigil Neuroscience on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Vigil Neuroscience

Vigil Neuroscience, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on developing treatments for rare and common neurodegenerative diseases by restoring the vigilance of microglia, the sentinel immune cells of the brain. Its lead candidate is VGL101(Iluzanebart), a human monoclonal antibody agonist targeting human triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 and is in a Phase 2 trial in patients with adult-onset leukoencephalopathy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP), a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease. The company is also developing VG-3927, an orally-available small molecule TREM2 agonist to treat common neurodegenerative diseases associated with microglial dysfunction, with an initial focus on Alzheimer’s disease in genetically defined subpopulations, which is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial. It has license agreement with Amgen Inc. to commercially develop, manufacture, use, distribute, and sell therapeutic products containing compounds that bind to TREM2. The company was incorporated in 2020 and is headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts.