Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA – Get Free Report) and Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Akebia Therapeutics and Atea Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
Akebia Therapeutics presently has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 358.72%. Given Akebia Therapeutics’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Akebia Therapeutics is more favorable than Atea Pharmaceuticals.
Volatility & Risk
Insider & Institutional Ownership
33.9% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.7% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Akebia Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.8% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Profitability
This table compares Akebia Therapeutics and Atea Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | -22.99% | N/A | -18.01% |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | N/A | -29.18% | -27.48% |
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Akebia Therapeutics and Atea Pharmaceuticals’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Akebia Therapeutics | $187.23 million | 1.22 | -$51.92 million | ($0.23) | -4.74 |
| Atea Pharmaceuticals | $351.37 million | 0.88 | -$135.96 million | ($1.96) | -1.88 |
Akebia Therapeutics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Atea Pharmaceuticals. Akebia Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Atea Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Akebia Therapeutics beats Atea Pharmaceuticals on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Akebia Therapeutics
Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for patients with kidney diseases. The company's lead product investigational product candidate is Vafseo (vadadustat), an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, which is in Phase III development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent patients. It offers Auryxia, a ferric citrate that is used to control the serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with DD-CKD on dialysis; and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia in adult patients with CKD not on dialysis. The company's product pipeline includes AKB-9090, a drug targeting critical-care indications; and AKB-10108, a drug targeting conditions related to premature birth. It has collaboration agreements with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation for the development and commercialization of vadadustat in Japan and other Asian countries, as well as research and license agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV for the development and commercialization of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase targeted compounds worldwide. Akebia Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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.
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