WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE – Get Free Report) and BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB – Get Free Report) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.
Volatility & Risk
WAVE Life Sciences has a beta of -1.77, indicating that its share price is 277% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioAtla has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares WAVE Life Sciences and BioAtla’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| WAVE Life Sciences | -478.35% | -85.69% | -57.55% |
| BioAtla | N/A | -1,177.18% | -200.66% |
Earnings and Valuation
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| WAVE Life Sciences | $42.73 million | 51.24 | -$204.38 million | ($1.22) | -9.53 |
| BioAtla | $11.00 million | 0.85 | -$69.78 million | ($1.15) | -0.13 |
BioAtla has lower revenue, but higher earnings than WAVE Life Sciences. WAVE Life Sciences is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BioAtla, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for WAVE Life Sciences and BioAtla, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| WAVE Life Sciences | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 2.86 |
| BioAtla | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
WAVE Life Sciences currently has a consensus price target of $33.73, suggesting a potential upside of 190.05%. BioAtla has a consensus price target of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2,600.88%. Given BioAtla’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BioAtla is more favorable than WAVE Life Sciences.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
89.7% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of BioAtla shares are owned by institutional investors. 24.0% of WAVE Life Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of BioAtla shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Summary
WAVE Life Sciences beats BioAtla on 8 of the 14 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 BioAtla
BioAtla, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops specific and selective antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumor cancer. The company's lead clinical stage product candidates include mecbotamab vedotin (BA3011), a conditionally active biologic (CAB) antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and ozuriftabmab vedotin (BA3021), a CAB ADC that is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of melanoma and squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. It is also developing Evalstotug (BA3071), a CAB anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 antibody, which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating melanoma, carcinomas, and NSCLC; and BA3182, a bispecific candidate that is in Phase 1 study for the treatment of adenocarcinomas, as well as BA3361, which is in preclinical studies for treating multiple tumor types. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
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