Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) versus Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) Critical Contrast

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Atara Biotherapeutics and Biogen, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	1	0	0	1.50
Biogen	1	13	14	0	2.46

Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.45%. Biogen has a consensus price target of $211.31, suggesting a potential upside of 12.47%. Given Atara Biotherapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Atara Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Biogen.

Volatility & Risk

Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of -0.34, suggesting that its share price is 134% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Biogen has a beta of 0.16, suggesting that its share price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Biogen”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atara Biotherapeutics	$120.77 million	0.33	$32.69 million	$3.12	1.57
Biogen	$9.89 billion	2.79	$1.29 billion	$8.81	21.33

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.9% of Biogen shares are held by institutional investors. 4.0% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Biogen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atara Biotherapeutics	27.07%	-79.12%	87.55%
Biogen	13.07%	12.64%	7.81%

Summary

Biogen beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. engages in the development of transformative therapies for patients with solid tumors, hematologic cancers, and autoimmune diseases in the United States and the United Kingdom. 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 ATA3219, currently in Phase 1 trials, as well as ATA3431, under preclinical trials for the treatment of B-cell malignancies and autoimmune diseases; and ATA188 that is in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat multiple sclerosis. The company has research collaboration agreements with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Council of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.

About Biogen

Biogen Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers therapies for treating neurological and neurodegenerative diseases in the United States, Europe, Germany, Asia, and internationally. The company provides TECFIDERA, VUMERITY, AVONEX, PLEGRIDY, TYSABRI, and FAMPYRA for multiple sclerosis (MS); SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy; ADUHELM to treat Alzheimer’s disease; FUMADERM to treat plaque psoriasis; BENEPALI, an etanercept biosimilar referencing ENBREL; IMRALDI, an adalimumab biosimilar referencing HUMIRA; FLIXABI, an infliximab biosimilar referencing REMICADE; and BYOOVIZ, a ranibizumab biosimilar referencing LUCENTIS. It offers RITUXAN for treating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), rheumatoid arthritis, two forms of ANCA-associated vasculitis, and pemphigus vulgaris; RITUXAN HYCELA for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and CLL; GAZYVA to treat CLL and follicular lymphoma; OCREVUS for relapsing MS and primary progressive MS; LUNSUMIO to treat relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma; glofitamab for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; and other anti-CD20 therapies. In addition, the company is developing various products for the treatment of MS, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, neuromuscular disorders, Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, neuropsychiatry, genetic neurodevelopmental disorders, and biosimilars, which are under various stages of development. It has collaboration and license agreements with Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.; Alkermes Pharma Ireland Limited; Denali Therapeutics Inc.; Eisai Co., Ltd.; Genentech, Inc.; Neurimmune SubOne AG; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Samsung Bioepis Co., Ltd.; Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc.; and Sage Therapeutics, Inc., as well as collaboration with Fujirebio to potentially identify and develop blood-based biomarkers for tau pathology in the brain. The company was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.