Analyzing Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) & Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT)

Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Moderna”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adaptive Biotechnologies	$177.28 million	5.20	-$225.25 million	($1.34)	-4.66
Moderna	$5.06 billion	3.03	-$4.71 billion	($5.82)	-6.85

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

Profitability

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Moderna’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adaptive Biotechnologies	-110.13%	-62.06%	-26.82%
Moderna	-43.77%	-17.68%	-13.35%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Adaptive Biotechnologies and Moderna, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adaptive Biotechnologies	0	1	3	0	2.75
Moderna	4	12	5	1	2.14

Adaptive Biotechnologies currently has a consensus price target of $6.75, suggesting a potential upside of 8.00%. Moderna has a consensus price target of $79.50, suggesting a potential upside of 99.40%. Given Moderna’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Moderna is more favorable than Adaptive Biotechnologies.

Volatility and Risk

Adaptive Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Moderna has a beta of 1.58, meaning that its stock price is 58% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Moderna shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.2% of Moderna shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Moderna beats Adaptive Biotechnologies on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adaptive Biotechnologies

Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation, a commercial-stage company, develops an immune medicine platform for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. The company offers immunosequencing platform which combines a suite of proprietary chemistry, computational biology, and machine learning to generate clinical immunomics data to decode the adaptive immune system. It also provides clonoSEQ diagnostic test which detects and monitors the remaining number of cancer cells that are present in a patient’s body during and after treatment, known as Minimal Residual Disease (MRD). The company offers products and services for life sciences research, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery applications. Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation has strategic collaborations with Genentech, Inc. for the development, manufacture, and commercialization of neoantigen directed T cell therapies for the treatment of a range of cancers; and Microsoft Corporation to develop diagnostic tests for the early detection of various diseases from a single blood test. The company was formerly known as Adaptive TCR Corporation and changed its name to Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation in December 2011. Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines. The company also offers systemic secreted and cell surface therapeutics; cancer vaccines, such as personalized cancer, KRAS, and checkpoint vaccines; intratumoral immuno-oncology products; rare disease intracellular therapeutics; and inhaled pulmonary therapeutics. It has strategic alliances and collaborations with AstraZeneca; Merck & Co., Inc; Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated; Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited; Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A.; Metagenomi, Inc.; Carisma Therapeutics, Inc.; CytomX Therapeutics; Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority; Institute for Life Changing Medicines; and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company was formerly known as Moderna Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Moderna, Inc. in August 2018. Moderna, Inc. was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.