Critical Survey: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) versus Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL)

Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) and Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Vericel shares are held 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.

Risk and Volatility

Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vericel has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its share price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Vericel’s 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%
Vericel	1.56%	1.48%	0.96%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Atara Biotherapeutics and Vericel, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	1	2	0	2.25
Vericel	0	0	7	0	3.00

Atara Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $16.67, indicating a potential upside of 36.89%. Vericel has a consensus price target of $59.71, indicating a potential upside of 2.71%. Given Atara Biotherapeutics’ higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Atara Biotherapeutics is more favorable than Vericel.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and Vericel”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atara Biotherapeutics	$8.57 million	8.18	-$276.13 million	($25.78)	-0.47
Vericel	$226.84 million	12.65	-$3.18 million	$0.06	969.00

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

Summary

Vericel beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 12 of the 14 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 Vericel

Vericel Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and distribution of cellular therapies for sports medicine and severe burn care markets in North America. The company markets autologous cell therapy products comprising MACI, an autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane for the repair of symptomatic, and single or multiple full-thickness cartilage defects of the knee; Epicel, a permanent skin replacement humanitarian use device for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns; and NexoBrid, a biological orphan product for eschar removal in adults with deep partial-thickness and/or full-thickness thermal burns. The company was formerly known as Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. Vericel Corporation was incorporated in 1989 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.