Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) and BetterLife Pharma (OTCMKTS:BETRF) Critical Contrast

Wave Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) and BetterLife Pharma (OTCMKTS:BETRF) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends, risk, profitability, earnings and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

89.7% of Wave Life Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of BetterLife Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.1% of Wave Life Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.8% of BetterLife Pharma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Wave Life Sciences and BetterLife Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wave Life Sciences	-66.50%	-1,395.99%	-31.99%
BetterLife Pharma	N/A	N/A	-998.84%

Risk and Volatility

Wave Life Sciences has a beta of -1.1, meaning that its stock price is 210% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BetterLife Pharma has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Wave Life Sciences and BetterLife Pharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wave Life Sciences	$110.50 million	9.68	-$57.51 million	($0.52)	-16.79
BetterLife Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$2.14 million	($0.03)	-3.09

BetterLife Pharma has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Wave Life Sciences. Wave Life Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BetterLife Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Wave Life Sciences and BetterLife Pharma, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wave Life Sciences	0	1	8	0	2.89
BetterLife Pharma	0	0	0	0	N/A

Wave Life Sciences presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 71.82%. Given Wave Life Sciences’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Wave Life Sciences is more favorable than BetterLife Pharma.

Summary

BetterLife Pharma beats Wave Life Sciences on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Wave Life Sciences

Wave Life Sciences Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, designs, develops, and commercializes ribonucleic acid (RNA) medicines through PRISM, a discovery and drug development platform. The company's RNA medicines platform, PRISM, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation, and deep insights into human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and prevalent disorders. It is developing WVE-006, a RNA editing oligonucleotide for the treatment of alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; siRNA clinical candidate for the treatment of obesity and other metabolic disorders; WVE-N531, a exon skipping oligonucleotide for the treatment of duchenne muscular dystrophy; and WVE-003, an antisense silencing oligonucleotide for the treatment of Huntington's disease (HD). The company has collaboration agreements with GlaxoSmithKline for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited for the research, development, and commercialization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for disorders of the Central Nervous System; and Asuragen, Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of companion diagnostics for investigational allele-selective therapeutic programs targeting HD. Wave Life Sciences Ltd. was incorporated in 2012 and is based in Singapore.

About BetterLife Pharma

BetterLife Pharma Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of compounds for the treatment of mental disorders in Canada. It is also involved in refining and developing drug candidates from a set of complementary interferon-based technologies that have the potential to engage the immune system to fight virus infections. The company's products pipeline includes BETR-001 for the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety, and neuropathic pain and other neuro-psychiatric and neurological disorders; and BETR-002 to treat benzodiazepine dependency, anxiety, and neurodegenerative disorders. It is also developing MM-003, which has completed Phase II clinical trials for treatment of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections; and MM-001, a topical cream for local intravaginal use to treat HPV-induced cervical intraepithelial neoplasia that has completed Phase II clinical trials. The company was formerly known as Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. and changed its name to BetterLife Pharma Inc. in December 2019. BetterLife Pharma Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.