Contrasting Atara Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ATRA) and ImmunityBio (NASDAQ:IBRX)

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

Profitability

This table compares Atara Biotherapeutics and ImmunityBio’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%
ImmunityBio	-8,016.83%	N/A	-110.02%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.9% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 8.6% of ImmunityBio shares are held by institutional investors. 3.7% of Atara Biotherapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 76.8% of ImmunityBio shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Atara Biotherapeutics has a beta of 0.3, indicating that its stock price is 70% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ImmunityBio has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its stock price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Atara Biotherapeutics and ImmunityBio, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atara Biotherapeutics	1	2	3	1	2.57
ImmunityBio	0	0	4	1	3.20

Atara Biotherapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $17.75, suggesting a potential upside of 111.56%. ImmunityBio has a consensus target price of $12.25, suggesting a potential upside of 352.03%. Given ImmunityBio’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ImmunityBio is more favorable than Atara Biotherapeutics.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atara Biotherapeutics	$199.73 million	0.25	-$276.13 million	($3.72)	-2.26
ImmunityBio	$31.22 million	76.61	-$583.20 million	($0.58)	-4.67

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

Summary

ImmunityBio beats Atara Biotherapeutics on 7 of the 13 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 ImmunityBio

ImmunityBio, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing therapies and vaccines that bolster the natural immune system to defeat cancers and infectious diseases. Its platforms for the development of biologic product candidates include antibody-cytokine fusion proteins; DNA, RNA, and recombinant protein vaccines; and cell therapies. The company's platforms have generated therapeutic agents that are currently being or planned to be studied in clinical trials across various indications in liquid and solid tumors, including bladder, lung and colorectal cancers, and glioblastoma multiforme. Its lead biologic product candidate is Anktiva, an FDA-approved immunotherapy in combination with bacillus calmette-guérin (BCG) for the treatment of adult patients with BCG unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer with carcinoma in situ, with or without papillary tumors. The company has collaboration agreements with National Cancer Institute. It also has license agreements with 3M Innovative Properties Company; Access to Advanced Health Institute; LadRx Corporation; Sanford Health; Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd.; Viracta Therapeutics, Inc.; and GlobeImmune, Inc. The company is based in San Diego, California.