Head to Head Survey: Gossamer Bio (NASDAQ:GOSS) vs. Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA)

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) and Gossamer Bio (NASDAQ:GOSS) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Gossamer Bio shares are held by institutional investors. 41.2% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Gossamer Bio shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atara Biotherapeutics	-269.42%	-79.12%	-73.01%
Gossamer Bio	-235.00%	N/A	-112.04%

Volatility & Risk

Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.12, meaning that its share price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gossamer Bio has a beta of 2.04, meaning that its share price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Atara Biotherapeutics and Gossamer Bio, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	1	1	1	2.50
Gossamer Bio	2	3	4	0	2.22

Atara Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $9.50, indicating a potential upside of 3.26%. Gossamer Bio has a consensus price target of $3.20, indicating a potential upside of 1,781.25%. Given Gossamer Bio’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Gossamer Bio is more favorable than Atara Biotherapeutics.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Gossamer Bio”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atara Biotherapeutics	$120.77 million	0.76	$32.69 million	($1.18)	-7.80
Gossamer Bio	$48.47 million	0.82	-$170.37 million	($0.70)	-0.24

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

Summary

Gossamer Bio beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 9 of the 15 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 Gossamer Bio

Gossamer Bio, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing seralutinib for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in the United States. The company is developing GB002, an inhaled, small molecule, platelet-derived growth factor receptor, or PDGFR, colony-stimulatin factor 1 receptor and c-KIT inhibitor, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of PAH. It has license agreements with Pulmokine, Inc. to develop and commercialize GB002 and related backup compounds. The company was formerly known as FSG, Bio, Inc. and changed its name to Gossamer Bio, Inc. in 2017. Gossamer Bio, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.