Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR – Get Free Report) and SELLAS Life Sciences Group (NASDAQ:SLS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, risk and valuation.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
86.7% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 17.4% of SELLAS Life Sciences Group shares are held by institutional investors. 17.8% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of SELLAS Life Sciences Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of recent ratings for Atea Pharmaceuticals and SELLAS Life Sciences Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 |
| SELLAS Life Sciences Group | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
Risk and Volatility
Atea Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SELLAS Life Sciences Group has a beta of 2.39, meaning that its stock price is 139% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Atea Pharmaceuticals and SELLAS Life Sciences Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | $351.37 million | 0.93 | -$135.96 million | ($1.96) | -1.98 |
| SELLAS Life Sciences Group | $1.00 million | 83.63 | -$37.34 million | ($1.10) | -1.18 |
SELLAS Life Sciences Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Atea Pharmaceuticals. Atea Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than SELLAS Life Sciences Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Profitability
This table compares Atea Pharmaceuticals and SELLAS Life Sciences Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | N/A | -33.24% | -31.06% |
| SELLAS Life Sciences Group | N/A | -17,349.61% | -255.78% |
Summary
SELLAS Life Sciences Group beats Atea Pharmaceuticals on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Atea Pharmaceuticals
Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes antiviral therapeutics for patients with viral infections. Its lead product candidate is AT-527, an oral antiviral candidate that is in Phase 3 SUNRISE-3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with COVID-19. The company also develops bemnifosbuvir in combination with ruzasvir, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial, for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV); and a protease inhibitor for the treatment of COVID-19. It has a license agreement with MSD International GmbH for the development, manufacture, and commercialization of Ruzasvir, an NS5A inhibitor, for the treatment of HCV. Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.
About SELLAS Life Sciences Group
SELLAS Life Sciences Group, Inc., a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel cancer immunotherapies for various cancer indications in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is galinpepimut-S (GPS), a cancer immunotherapeutic agent that targets Wilms tumor 1, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia; and in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment for ovarian cancer. It has a strategic collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. to evaluate GPS as it is administered in combination with PD1 blocker pembrolizumab in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial enrolling patients in up to five cancer indications, including hematologic malignancies and solid tumors; and GenFleet Therapeutics (Shanghai), Inc. for the development and commercialization of GFH009, a highly selective small molecule CDK9 inhibitor, currently under Phase 1 clinical trials. The company is headquartered in New York, New York.
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