Contrasting Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN) and Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:ATHA)

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

Profitability

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

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

Volatility & Risk

Athira Pharma has a beta of 2.95, indicating that its stock price is 195% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Day One Biopharmaceuticals has a beta of -1.28, indicating that its stock price is 228% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

57.1% of Athira Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.0% of Day One Biopharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of Athira Pharma shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Day One Biopharmaceuticals shares are held by 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Athira Pharma and Day One Biopharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Athira Pharma currently has a consensus price target of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.36%. Day One Biopharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $24.43, suggesting a potential upside of 192.21%. Given Day One Biopharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Day One Biopharmaceuticals is more favorable than Athira Pharma.

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Athira Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$96.94 million	($9.68)	-0.40
Day One Biopharmaceuticals	$131.16 million	6.54	-$95.50 million	($1.52)	-5.50

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 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.

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.