Critical Comparison: Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCLI) and Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT)

Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) and Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCLI) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Adaptive Biotechnologies and Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adaptive Biotechnologies	0	1	4	0	2.80
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics	0	0	1	0	3.00

Adaptive Biotechnologies presently has a consensus price target of $9.10, indicating a potential upside of 8.08%. Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,707.23%. Given Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics is more favorable than Adaptive Biotechnologies.

Profitability

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adaptive Biotechnologies	-89.12%	-64.65%	-26.45%
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-528.56%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adaptive Biotechnologies	$178.96 million	6.94	-$159.49 million	($1.09)	-7.72
Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$17.19 million	($4.80)	-0.35

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

Volatility & Risk

Adaptive Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 14.3% of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.7% of Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics beats Adaptive Biotechnologies on 7 of the 13 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 Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of autologous cellular therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The company, through its NurOwn proprietary cell therapy platform, leverages cell culture methods to induce autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to secrete high levels of neurotrophic factors, modulate neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease processes, promote neuronal survival, and enhance neurological function. It is developing NurOwn, which has completed Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of progressive multiple sclerosis; and for the treatment of alzheimer's disease, as well as for other neurodegenerative diseases. Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in New York, New York.