Critical Comparison: Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:ATHA) versus Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN)

Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN) and Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:ATHA) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Athira Pharma, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Day One Biopharmaceuticals	1	0	7	1	2.89
Athira Pharma	1	0	0	0	1.00

Day One Biopharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $24.43, indicating a potential upside of 177.44%. Athira Pharma has a consensus price target of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.17%. Given Day One Biopharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Day One Biopharmaceuticals is more favorable than Athira Pharma.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

87.9% of Day One Biopharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of Athira Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Day One Biopharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.8% of Athira Pharma shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Athira Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Day One Biopharmaceuticals	-113.53%	-32.05%	-28.24%
Athira Pharma	N/A	-107.06%	-89.89%

Volatility & Risk

Day One Biopharmaceuticals has a beta of -1.27, suggesting that its share price is 227% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Athira Pharma has a beta of 2.95, suggesting that its share price is 195% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Day One Biopharmaceuticals and Athira Pharma”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Day One Biopharmaceuticals	$133.67 million	6.76	-$95.50 million	($1.52)	-5.79
Athira Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$96.94 million	($9.68)	-0.40

Day One Biopharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Athira Pharma. Day One Biopharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Athira Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Day One Biopharmaceuticals beats Athira Pharma on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Day One Biopharmaceuticals

Day One Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes targeted therapies for patients with genomically defined cancers. Its lead product candidate is tovorafenib, an oral brain-penetrant type II pan-rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma kinase inhibitor that is in Phase II clinical trial for pediatric patients with relapsed/ refractory low-grade glioma. The company is also developing Pimasertib, an oral small molecule inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases 1 and 2. Day One Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

About Athira Pharma

Athira Pharma, Inc., a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing small molecules to restore neuronal health and slow neurodegradation. Its lead product candidate is Fosgonimeton (ATH-1017), a small molecule designed to modulate the neurotrophic hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) system and its receptor, MET, for a healthy nervous system that is in LIFT-AD Phase 2/3 and ACT-AD Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as is in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat Parkinson's disease dementia and Dementia with Lewy bodies. The company's product pipeline includes ATH-1020, an orally available brain-penetrant small molecule designed to enhance the HGF/MET system that is in Phase 1 clinical trials to treat neuropathic pain and neurodegenerative diseases; and ATH-1105, an oral small molecule drug candidate, which is a preclinical model for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In addition, it has a license agreement with Washington State University to offer for sale products covered by certain licensed patents, including dihexa, the chemical compound into which fosgonimeton metabolizes following administration; and collaboration and grant agreement with National Institutes of Health Grant to support ACT-AD Phase 2 clinical trial for fosgonimeton. The company was formerly known as M3 Biotechnology, Inc. and changed its name to Athira Pharma, Inc. in April 2019. Athira Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.