Critical Review: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) & BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX)

BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Volatility & Risk

BioNTech has a beta of 0.23, meaning that its stock price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares BioNTech and Atara Biotherapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BioNTech	-18.69%	-2.54%	-2.24%
Atara Biotherapeutics	-290.20%	N/A	-113.71%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BioNTech and Atara Biotherapeutics’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BioNTech	$4.13 billion	5.12	$1.01 billion	$0.50	178.04
Atara Biotherapeutics	$62.39 million	0.70	-$276.13 million	($53.25)	-0.17

BioNTech has higher revenue and earnings than Atara Biotherapeutics. Atara Biotherapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BioNTech, 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 BioNTech and Atara Biotherapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BioNTech	1	5	5	1	2.50
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	2	2	0	2.20

BioNTech currently has a consensus price target of $109.09, suggesting a potential upside of 22.55%. Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus price target of $185.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1,949.72%. Given Atara Biotherapeutics’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Atara Biotherapeutics is more favorable than BioNTech.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

15.5% of BioNTech shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 19.2% of BioNTech shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

BioNTech beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About BioNTech

BioNTech SE, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes immunotherapies for cancer and other infectious diseases. The company is developing FixVac product candidates, including BNT111, which is in Phase II clinical trial for advance melanoma; BNT112 that is in Phase I/IIa clinical trial for prostate cancer; BNT113, which is in Phase II clinical trial to treat HPV 16+ head and neck cancers; BNT114 to treat triple negative breast cancer; BNT115, which is in Phase I clinical trial in ovarian cancer; and BNT116, which is in Phase I clinical trial for non-small cell lung cancer. It develops BNT122, which is in Phase II clinical trial for first-line melanoma and in Phase I clinical trial to treat multiple solid tumors; BNT131 that is in Phase I clinical trial for multiple solid tumors; BNT141 and BNT142 that are in Phase I clinical trial to treat multiple solid tumors; BNT151, BNT152, and BNT153 to treat solid tumors; BNT211 to treat multiple solid tumors, and BNT221 for pancreatic and other cancers; BNT311 which are in Phase II clinical trial to treat metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and Phase I/II clinical trial to treat multiple solid tumors; and BNT312, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat multiple solid tumors, as well as ONC-392, which is in Phase III clinical trial to treat ovarian cancer and Phase I/II clinical trial to treat multiple solid tumors. It develops BNT321, an IgG1 monoclonal antibody in Phase I clinical trial for pancreatic cancer; BNT411, a small molecule immunomodulator product candidate in Phase I clinical trial for solid tumors; BNT322, which is in Phase I/Ib clinical trial for multiple solid tumors; and prophylactic vaccine for shingles, malaria, tuberculosis, HSV-2, and other infectious diseases. It has collaborations with Genentech, Inc.; Sanofi S.A.; Genmab A/S; Pfizer Inc.; Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd; and Ryvu Therapeutics S.A. BioNTech SE was incorporated in 2008 and is based in Mainz, Germany.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. develops therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States. Its lead product includes Tab-cel (tabelecleucel), a T-cell immunotherapy program that is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epstein-barr virus (EBV) driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, as well as nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Its CAR T immunotherapy pipeline products include ATA2271 and ATA3271 to treat mesothelin; and ATA3219 for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, as well as ATA188 that is in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat multiple sclerosis. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a license agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; license, and research and development collaboration agreement with QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute; and strategic collaboration with H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.