Contrasting Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) & AbCellera Biologics (NASDAQ:ABCL)

Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PTGX) and AbCellera Biologics (NASDAQ:ABCL) are both mid-cap healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Protagonist Therapeutics and AbCellera Biologics, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Protagonist Therapeutics	0	2	16	0	2.89
AbCellera Biologics	1	2	5	1	2.67

Protagonist Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $147.13, suggesting a potential upside of 4.27%. AbCellera Biologics has a consensus target price of $13.38, suggesting a potential upside of 11.58%. Given AbCellera Biologics’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe AbCellera Biologics is more favorable than Protagonist Therapeutics.

Volatility & Risk

Protagonist Therapeutics has a beta of 1.53, indicating that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AbCellera Biologics has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.6% of Protagonist Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.4% of AbCellera Biologics shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.2% of Protagonist Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 28.4% of AbCellera Biologics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Protagonist Therapeutics and AbCellera Biologics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Protagonist Therapeutics	29.40%	12.03%	11.23%
AbCellera Biologics	-248.83%	-17.49%	-12.36%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Protagonist Therapeutics and AbCellera Biologics”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Protagonist Therapeutics	$46.02 million	198.41	-$130.15 million	$1.03	137.00
AbCellera Biologics	$75.13 million	48.92	-$146.41 million	($0.54)	-22.20

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

Summary

Protagonist Therapeutics beats AbCellera Biologics on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Protagonist Therapeutics

Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, develops peptide-based drugs for hematology and blood disorders, and inflammatory and immunomodulatory diseases. It is developing Rusfertide (PTG-300), an injectable hepcidin mimetic that completed phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of polycythemia vera and other blood disorders; and JNJ-2113, an orally delivered investigational drug to block biological pathways that completed phase 2b clinical trials for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis; and PN-943, an orally delivered, gut-restricted alpha 4 beta 7 specific integrin antagonist completed a phase 2 clinical trials in patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. The company has a license and collaboration agreement with Takeda to commercialize rusfertide; and JNJ Innovative Medicines to co-develop Interleukin-23 receptor antagonist compound JNJ-2113. Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in Newark, California.

About AbCellera Biologics

AbCellera Biologics Inc. builds an engine for antibody drug discovery and development. Its engine discovers antibodies from natural immune responses, which are pre-enriched for antibodies. The company’s preclinical products are ABCL635 for metabolic and endocrine conditions; and ABCL575 for atopic dermatitis. It has a research collaboration and license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company; a research collaboration with Confo Therapeutics for the discovery of therapeutic antibody candidates targeting two undisclosed GPCR targets; and strategic collaboration with Biogen Inc. to discover therapeutic antibodies for neurological conditions, as well as collaboration with Viking Global Investors and ArrowMark Partners. The company was incorporated in 2012 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.