Head to Head Comparison: Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) versus Taysha Gene Therapies (NASDAQ:TSHA)

Taysha Gene Therapies (NASDAQ:TSHA) and Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Taysha Gene Therapies has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Taysha Gene Therapies and Atara Biotherapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Taysha Gene Therapies	$9.77 million	142.74	-$109.00 million	($0.42)	-10.19
Atara Biotherapeutics	$120.77 million	0.68	$32.69 million	($1.18)	-6.97

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

Profitability

This table compares Taysha Gene Therapies and Atara Biotherapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Taysha Gene Therapies	N/A	-56.19%	-41.84%
Atara Biotherapeutics	-269.42%	N/A	-73.01%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.7% of Taysha Gene Therapies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.5% of Taysha Gene Therapies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 41.2% of Atara Biotherapeutics 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Taysha Gene Therapies and Atara Biotherapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Taysha Gene Therapies	1	0	12	2	3.00
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	1	1	1	2.50

Taysha Gene Therapies presently has a consensus target price of $12.77, suggesting a potential upside of 198.35%. Atara Biotherapeutics has a consensus target price of $9.50, suggesting a potential upside of 15.43%. Given Taysha Gene Therapies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Taysha Gene Therapies is more favorable than Atara Biotherapeutics.

Summary

Taysha Gene Therapies beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Taysha Gene Therapies

Taysha Gene Therapies is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene therapies for rare, genetically driven diseases. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company was founded in 2019 and has built its programs around adeno-associated virus delivery technology. The company’s lead program, TSHA-102, is an investigational gene therapy being developed for Rett syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. Taysha’s research has also included gene therapy programs for other rare diseases, including giant axonal neuropathy.

About Atara Biotherapeutics

Atara Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing allogeneic T-cell immunotherapies for cancer and serious diseases associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The company’s platform uses donor-derived, virus-specific T cells that are designed to recognize and eliminate infected or malignant cells without requiring cells to be collected from each individual patient. Atara’s lead product, tabelecleucel, is marketed in the European Union under the brand name Ebvallo. The therapy is approved for certain adults and children with EBV-positive post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease, a rare and potentially life-threatening complication that can occur after organ or stem-cell transplantation.