Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) & Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ:GNCAQ) Financial Contrast

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.7% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Genocea Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atara Biotherapeutics	-132.58%	N/A	-90.16%
Genocea Biosciences	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Atara Biotherapeutics and Genocea Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	2	3	1	2.57
Genocea Biosciences	0	0	0	0	0.00

Atara Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $17.75, suggesting a potential upside of 198.82%. Given Atara Biotherapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Atara Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Genocea Biosciences.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atara Biotherapeutics	$128.94 million	0.27	-$276.13 million	($12.97)	-0.46
Genocea Biosciences	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Genocea Biosciences has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Atara Biotherapeutics.

Volatility and Risk

Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Genocea Biosciences has a beta of 1.74, indicating that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Atara Biotherapeutics beats Genocea Biosciences on 7 of the 10 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 Genocea Biosciences

Genocea Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops novel cancer immunotherapies. The company uses its proprietary discovery platform, ATLAS, which profiles each patient's CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune responses to every target or antigen identified by next-generation sequencing of that patient's tumor. Its products include GEN-011, an adoptive T cell therapy, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumors; and GEN-009, a neoantigen vaccine candidate, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trials that delivers adjuvanted synthetic long peptides spanning ATLAS-identified anti-tumor neoantigens. The company was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On July 5, 2022, Genocea Biosciences, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts. The plan was later approved as Chapter 11 liquidation on May 11, 2023.