Financial Contrast: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) vs. Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN)

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

11.4% of Valneva shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 14.9% of Valneva shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 41.2% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Valneva	-110.33%	-153.20%	-39.50%
Atara Biotherapeutics	-269.42%	N/A	-73.01%

Volatility & Risk

Valneva has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.21, suggesting that its stock price is 79% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Valneva	$197.56 million	2.57	-$130.33 million	($2.11)	-2.54
Atara Biotherapeutics	$6.19 million	15.28	$32.69 million	($1.18)	-7.99

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Valneva and Atara Biotherapeutics, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Valneva	2	0	1	0	1.67
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	1	1	1	2.50

Valneva currently has a consensus target price of $9.30, suggesting a potential upside of 73.51%. Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 0.74%. Given Valneva’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Valneva is more favorable than Atara Biotherapeutics.

Summary

Atara Biotherapeutics beats Valneva on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Valneva

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine. The company also develops VLA15, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against Borrelia, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease; VLA1553, a vaccine candidate, which is in Phase III clinical trial against the chikungunya virus; VLA1554, a vaccine candidate targeting human metapneumovirus; and VLA2112, a vaccine candidate to treat patients with epstein-barr virus. It sells its products in the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Nordics, the United Kingdom, France, rest of European countries, and internationally. Valneva SE has collaborations with Pfizer, Inc. to co-develop and commercialize its Lyme disease vaccine; and Instituto Butantan for the development, manufacturing, and marketing of single-shot chikungunya vaccine. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Saint-Herblain, France.

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.