Critical Survey: Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) vs. Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM)

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) and Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Beam Therapeutics has a beta of 1.91, suggesting that its stock price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Adaptive Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.53, suggesting that its stock price is 53% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

99.7% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.2% of Beam Therapeutics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Beam Therapeutics	-41.07%	-16.22%	-10.94%
Adaptive Biotechnologies	-89.12%	-64.65%	-26.45%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Beam Therapeutics and Adaptive Biotechnologies, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Beam Therapeutics	0	2	10	2	3.00
Adaptive Biotechnologies	0	1	4	0	2.80

Beam Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $50.82, indicating a potential upside of 102.79%. Adaptive Biotechnologies has a consensus target price of $9.10, indicating a potential upside of 26.92%. Given Beam Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Beam Therapeutics is more favorable than Adaptive Biotechnologies.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Beam Therapeutics and Adaptive Biotechnologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Beam Therapeutics	$63.52 million	33.02	-$132.53 million	($4.58)	-5.47
Adaptive Biotechnologies	$178.96 million	5.95	-$159.49 million	($1.09)	-6.58

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

Summary

Beam Therapeutics beats Adaptive Biotechnologies on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a. The company has research collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc., focus on in vivo base editing programs for targets rare genetic diseases of the liver, muscle, and central nervous system; Apellis Pharmaceuticals to conduct preclinical research on target specific genes within the complement system in various organs, including the eye, liver, and brain; Verve Therapeutics, Inc., for cardiovascular disease treatments; Sana Biotechnology, Inc., to research, develop, and commercialize rights to CRISPR Cas12b for cell therapy programs; and Orbital Therapeutics design RNA for the prevention, treatment or diagnosis of human disease. Beam Therapeutics Inc. was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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.