Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) and Agenus (NASDAQ:AGEN) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current recommendations for Atara Biotherapeutics and Agenus, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Atara Biotherapeutics | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2.80 |
| Agenus | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $36.63, suggesting a potential upside of 138.44%. Agenus has a consensus price target of $8.00, suggesting a potential upside of 50.38%. Given Atara Biotherapeutics’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Atara Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Agenus.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
52.1% of Agenus shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.3% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Agenus shares are owned 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.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Agenus’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Atara Biotherapeutics | N/A | N/A | -$306.62 million | ($4.15) | -3.70 |
| Agenus | $88.17 million | 13.42 | -$180.91 million | ($1.05) | -5.07 |
Agenus has higher revenue and earnings than Atara Biotherapeutics. Agenus is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atara Biotherapeutics, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Risk and Volatility
Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 2.41, indicating that its share price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agenus has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Agenus’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Atara Biotherapeutics | N/A | -77.88% | -63.72% |
| Agenus | -226.54% | N/A | -91.47% |
Summary
Agenus beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
Atara Biotherapeutics Company Profile
Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc., an off-the-shelf T-cell immunotherapy company, develops treatments for patients with cancer, autoimmune, and viral diseases in the United States. It is developing tabelecleucel, a T-cell immunotherapy that is Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of epstein-barr virus (EBV) driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, as well as hematologic and solid tumors, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The company is also developing next-generation CAR T immunotherapies for patients with hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, including ATA2271 and ATA3271 for mesothelin; and ATA2431 and ATA3219 for B-cell malignancies, as well as ATA188 for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. In addition, it develops ATA2321 for acute myeloid leukemia; and ATA368 for human papillomavirus. Atara Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a license agreement with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; license, and research and development collaboration agreement with QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute; and strategic collaboration with H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, as well as Bayer AG for mesothelin-targeted CAR T-cell therapies for solid tumors. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California.
Agenus Company Profile
Agenus, Inc. is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, which engages in the development and commercialization of technologies to treat cancers and infectious diseases. Its product pipeline includes Balstilimab, Zalifrelimab, AGEN1181, AGEN1327, and AGEN1777. The company was founded by Garo H. Armen and Pramod K. Srivastava in March 31, 1994 and is headquartered in Lexington, MA.