7 Undervalued Biotechnology & Medical Research Stocks for Wednesday, January 31

By Jenna Brashear
January 31, 2024
Diamond graphic indicating best value stocks in their industry
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ACHL APVO DRMA INTI JAN SYBX XCUR

Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 7 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Biotechnology & Medical Research industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Latest Biotechnology & Medical Research Stock News

Before choosing which top Biotechnology & Medical Research stock to buy, be sure to conduct proper due diligence: analyze various financial metrics and look at historical data, public statements and news coverage.

The Biotechnology and Medical Research sub-industry has a positive outlook, a historically defensive sub-industry. Drug sales are anticipated to have high growth, primarily driven by COVID-19 therapeutics, the continued adoption of many new and innovative therapies, a favorable M&A environment, and a low prevalence of patent expirations in 2022. Additionally, companies could see prescription growth pick up as in-person physician visits return to pre-pandemic levels. As COVID-19 variants have emerged, vaccine boosters have been offered in order to increase efficacy. Due to this, repeat vaccinations will likely be necessary for lifelong immunity which would provide a long-lasting and significant source of revenue for lead vaccine developers. Aside from vaccines, the biotech industry is dependent on the volume of new therapy approvals. The FDA’s heavy focus on COVID-19 could slow the approvals on non-COVID-19 therapies. Despite this, the biotech industry will likely see promising sales growth over the next five years as it usually takes at least five years for new drugs to reach peak sales levels. Approval activity has also been on the rise recently. Mergers and acquisitions activity is expected to remain low as a more activist Federal Trade Commission (led by Lina Khan) could be more skeptical of proposed mergers. Year to date through June 30, the S&P 1500 Biotech Index was down 1.6%, vs. a 20.5% decline for the S&P 1500 Composite Index. In 2021, the Biotech Index rose 8.2%, vs. a 26.7% gain for the Composite Index.

Why Focus on Undervalued Biotechnology & Medical Research Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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7 Undervalued Biotechnology & Medical Research Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 7 undervalued stocks in the Biotechnology & Medical Research industry for Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Biotechnology & Medical Research industry median.

Company Ticker Price/Sales Price/Earnings EV/EBITDA Shareholder Yield Price/Book Value Price/Free Cash Flow Value Grade
Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR) ACHL na na 1.4 (1.9%) 0.23 na A
Aptevo Therapeutics Inc APVO na na 0.5 (147.1%) 0.14 na B
Dermata Therapeutics Inc DRMA na na 0.4 (315.6%) 0.25 na B
Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc INTI na 3.9 na 54.4% 2.67 4.3 A
Janone Inc JAN 0.06 5.4 na (33.3%) 0.15 na A
Synlogic Inc SYBX 21.57 na 0.2 2.2% 0.35 na B
Exicure Inc XCUR 0.19 0.4 2.0 (87.2%) 0.47 na A

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR)’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score ACHL Industry Median
Price/Sales na na 7.79
Price/Earnings na na 20.0
EV/EBITDA 5 1.4 0.8
Shareholder Yield 65 (1.9%) (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 4 0.23 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

Achilles Therapeutics plc is a United Kingdom-based clinical-stage immuno-oncology biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in developing precision T cell therapies to treat multiple types of solid tumors. Its lead product is a precision tumor-derived T cell therapy targeting clonal cancer neoantigens. Its pipeline includes Chiron: Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Thetis: Melanoma (Monotherapy), Thetis: Melanoma (PD-1 Combination), and other indications. It is focused on advancing cancer therapies through its work in the field of tumor evolution. Its platform enables to identify mutations formed early in the development of a cancer that give rise to antigens that are expressed by all of a patient's cancer cells but are absent from healthy tissue. It refers to this class of solid tumor targets as clonal neoantigens. To identify clonal neoantigens in a patient, it has developed a bioinformatic platform called PELEUS.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR) has a Value Score of 91, which is considered to be undervalued.

Now, let’s assess Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR)’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 1.4, when compared to the industry median of 0.8, the company may be considered overvalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR)’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of (10.30%). Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR)’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.83. This could make Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR) more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score APVO Industry Median
Price/Sales na na 7.79
Price/Earnings na na 20.0
EV/EBITDA 2 0.5 0.8
Shareholder Yield 97 (147.1%) (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 2 0.14 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. It is focused on developing novel immunotherapy candidates for the treatment of different forms of cancer. It has developed two versatile and enabling platform technologies for rational design of precision immune modulatory drugs. Its lead clinical candidates, APVO436 and ALG.APV-527, and preclinical candidates, APVO603 and APVO711, are developed using its ADAPTIR modular protein technology platform. Its preclinical candidate APVO442 is developed using its ADAPTIR-FLEX modular protein technology platform. APVO436 is a bispecific ADAPTIR that is designed to engage CD3 and CD123 to redirect T-cells to destroy leukemia cells expressing the target CD123 molecule on their surface. ALG.APV-527 is a novel investigational bispecific ADAPTIR candidate. APVO603 is a preclinical dual agonist bispecific ADAPTIR candidate designed to simultaneously target 4-1BB (CD137) and OX40 (CD134), both members of the TNF-receptor family.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc has a Value Score of 77, which is considered to be undervalued.

Aptevo Therapeutics Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Aptevo Therapeutics Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Aptevo Therapeutics Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Dermata Therapeutics Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score DRMA Industry Median
Price/Sales na na 7.79
Price/Earnings na na 20.0
EV/EBITDA 2 0.4 0.8
Shareholder Yield 98 (315.6%) (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 4 0.25 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

Dermata Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage medical dermatology company. The Company is focused on identifying, developing, and commercializing pharmaceutical product candidates for the treatment of medical and aesthetic skin conditions and diseases. Its product candidates include DMT310 and DMT410. Its lead product candidate DMT310 is intended to utilize its Spongilla technology for the once-weekly treatment of a variety of skin diseases with its initial focus being on the treatment of acne vulgaris. DMT310 completed a Phase Ib proof of concept (POC) trial in psoriasis. Its second product candidate utilizing its Spongilla technology is its combination treatment, DMT410. DMT410 is intended to consist of one treatment of its sponge powder followed by one topical application of botulinum toxin for delivery into the dermis. DMT410 Phase I POC trial of DMT410 for the treatment of multiple aesthetic skin conditions, including reduction of pore size, sebum production, and fine lines.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Dermata Therapeutics Inc has a Value Score of 75, which is considered to be undervalued.

Dermata Therapeutics Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Dermata Therapeutics Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Dermata Therapeutics Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score INTI Industry Median
Price/Sales na na 7.79
Price/Earnings 4 3.9 20.0
EV/EBITDA na na 0.8
Shareholder Yield 2 54.4% (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 67 2.67 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow 10 4.3 18.6

Inhibitor Therapeutics, Inc. is a pharmaceutical development company. The Company is focused on developing and commercializing therapeutics for patients with certain cancers and certain non-cancerous proliferation disorders. It also explores acquiring or licensing other pre-clinical and clinical stage therapeutics addressing unmet needs and orphan indications for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. The Company?s primary focus is on the development of therapies initially for BCCNS, prostate and lung cancers in the United States utilizing Itraconazole, in a patent-protected formulation. It has conducted a Phase IIb study of SUBA-Itraconazole for the treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma Nevus Syndrome, and Mayne Pharma assumed control of the clinical and regulatory development of this formulation for this indication.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc has a Value Score of 95, which is considered to be undervalued.

Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 3.9 compared to the industry median at 20.0. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc more attractive for value investors.

Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its peers. This could make Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc more attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Janone Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score JAN Industry Median
Price/Sales 2 0.06 7.79
Price/Earnings 7 5.4 20.0
EV/EBITDA na na 0.8
Shareholder Yield 90 (33.3%) (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 2 0.15 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

JanOne Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on identifying, acquiring, licensing, developing, partnering, and commercializing non-opioid and non-addictive therapies to address the large unmet medical need for the treatment of pain and addiction. Its drug candidate, JAN101, is an oral pharmaceutical composition of sodium nitrite that targets poor blood flow to the extremities, such as those with vascular complications of diabetes or Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) and treats pain. It operates in two segments: Biotechnology and Technology. Its biotechnology segment is focused on finding treatments for conditions that cause severe pain and to market drugs with non-addictive pain-relieving properties. Its recycling segment is an appliance recycling program, which offers recycling, replacement and additional services for utility energy efficiency programs and have established 20 Regional Processing Centers (RPCs) throughout the United States and Canada.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Janone Inc has a Value Score of 91, which is considered to be undervalued.

Janone Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 5.4 compared to the industry median at 20.0. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Janone Inc more attractive for value investors.

Janone Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Janone Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Janone Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Synlogic Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score SYBX Industry Median
Price/Sales 95 21.57 7.79
Price/Earnings na na 20.0
EV/EBITDA 1 0.2 0.8
Shareholder Yield 31 2.2% (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 7 0.35 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

Synlogic, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is engaged in advancing therapeutics based on synthetic biology. Its pipeline includes its program in phenylketonuria (PKU), and additional drug candidates designed to treat homocystinuria (HCU), enteric hyperoxaluria and gout. The Company uses programmable, precision genetic engineering of well-characterized probiotics to exert localized activity for therapeutic benefit, with a focus on metabolic and immunological diseases. The Company also has a research collaboration with Roche on the discovery of a novel Synthetic Biotic for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Company has also developed two drug candidates through a research collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc: SYNB1353, designed to consume methionine for the potential treatment of homocystinuria (HCU), and SYNB2081, designed to lower uric acid for the potential treatment of gout.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Synlogic Inc has a Value Score of 77, which is considered to be undervalued.

Synlogic Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Synlogic Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Synlogic Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

Exicure Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score XCUR Industry Median
Price/Sales 7 0.19 7.79
Price/Earnings 0 0.4 20.0
EV/EBITDA 6 2.0 0.8
Shareholder Yield 95 (87.2%) (10.3%)
Price/Book Value 10 0.47 1.83
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 18.6

Exicure, Inc. is an early-stage biotechnology company focused on developing nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid against validated targets. The Company is developing nucleic acid therapies targeting ribonucleic acid (RNA) to address both genetic and non-genetic neurological disorders. Its lead program is a non-opioid pain analgesic directed against the genetically validated target SCN9A. It is engaged in discovery efforts across a range of indications and therapeutic targets, such as pain using non-opioid analgesics, as well as rare neurological genetic disorders, including Huntington's disease, Angelman Syndrome, Batten disease, spinocerebellar ataxia, and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The Company focuses on pursuing out-licensing opportunities for its clinical asset, cavrotolimod, as well as for its preclinical candidates, including the SCN9A program for neuropathic pain.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Exicure Inc has a Value Score of 93, which is considered to be undervalued.

Exicure Inc’s price-earnings ratio is 0.4 compared to the industry median at 20.0. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Exicure Inc more attractive for value investors.

Exicure Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Exicure Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.83.

You can read more about Exicure Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

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Other Biotechnology & Medical Research Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Biotechnology & Medical Research stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 7 Best Biotechnology & Medical Research Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

  • Achilles Therapeutics PLC (ADR) stock has a Value Grade of A.
  • Aptevo Therapeutics Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
  • Dermata Therapeutics Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
  • Inhibitor Therapeutics Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.
  • Janone Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.
  • Synlogic Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
  • Exicure Inc stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 7 undervalued stocks in the Biotechnology & Medical Research industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

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Additional Resources About Biotechnology & Medical Research Stocks

Want to learn more about Biotechnology & Medical Research stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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