Financial Comparison: BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB) versus Emergent Biosolutions (NYSE:EBS)

Emergent Biosolutions (NYSE:EBS) and BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Emergent Biosolutions has a beta of 2.34, suggesting that its share price is 134% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioAtla has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Emergent Biosolutions and BioAtla, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emergent Biosolutions	2	1	3	0	2.17
BioAtla	1	0	1	0	2.00

Emergent Biosolutions presently has a consensus price target of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 51.40%. BioAtla has a consensus price target of $200.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15,284.62%. Given BioAtla’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe BioAtla is more favorable than Emergent Biosolutions.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Emergent Biosolutions and BioAtla”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Emergent Biosolutions	$742.90 million	0.46	$52.60 million	($3.55)	-1.86
BioAtla	$8.50 million	0.25	-$59.61 million	($25.45)	-0.05

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

Profitability

This table compares Emergent Biosolutions and BioAtla’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Emergent Biosolutions	-22.95%	16.35%	6.17%
BioAtla	N/A	N/A	-289.67%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.4% of Emergent Biosolutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of BioAtla shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Emergent Biosolutions shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of BioAtla shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Emergent Biosolutions beats BioAtla on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Emergent Biosolutions

Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a life sciences company, provides preparedness and response solutions for accidental, deliberate, and naturally occurring public health threats in the United States. The company offers NARCAN Nasal Spray for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose; Vaxchora vaccine for the prevention of cholera; Vivotif vaccine for oral administration for the prevention of typhoid fever; Anthrasil for the treatment of inhalational anthrax; BioThrax, an anthrax vaccine; CYFENDUS for post-exposure prophylaxis of disease following suspected or confirmed exposure to Bacillus anthracis; and Raxibacumab injection for the treatment and prophylaxis of inhalational anthrax. It also provides ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine; CNJ-016 to address complications from smallpox vaccination; TEMBEXA for the treatment of smallpox disease caused by variola virus in adult and pediatric patients; BAT for the treatment of symptomatic botulism; Ebanga for the treatment of Ebola; Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion Kit to remove or neutralize chemical warfare agents from the skin; Trobigard, a atropine sulfate obidoxime chloride auto-injector. In addition, the company is developing CGRD-001 for the treatment of poisoning by organophosphorus nerve agents or organophosphorus compounds; EBS-LASV to prevent Lassa fever; EBS-MARV to prevent Marburg virus disease; EBS-SUDV to prevent Sudan virus disease; Pan-Ebola mAbs for the treatment of ebola virus; SIAN Antidote for initial treatment of certain or suspected acute cyanide poisoning; UniFlu for immunity against influenza A and B viruses; and WEVEE-VLP for equine encephalitis virus infections. Further, it provides contract development and manufacturing services comprising drug substance and product manufacturing, and packaging, as well as technology transfer, process, and analytical development services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

About BioAtla

BioAtla, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops specific and selective antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumor cancer. The company's lead clinical stage product candidates include mecbotamab vedotin (BA3011), a conditionally active biologic (CAB) antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and ozuriftabmab vedotin (BA3021), a CAB ADC that is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of melanoma and squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. It is also developing Evalstotug (BA3071), a CAB anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 antibody, which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating melanoma, carcinomas, and NSCLC; and BA3182, a bispecific candidate that is in Phase 1 study for the treatment of adenocarcinomas, as well as BA3361, which is in preclinical studies for treating multiple tumor types. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.