Vor Biopharma (NASDAQ:VOR) versus Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:LONA) Critical Review

Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:LONA) and Vor Biopharma (NASDAQ:VOR) are both small-cap manufacturing companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Risk & Volatility

Athira Pharma has a beta of 2.72, meaning that its share price is 172% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vor Biopharma has a beta of 2.02, meaning that its share price is 102% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Athira Pharma and Vor Biopharma, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Athira Pharma	1	0	2	0	2.33
Vor Biopharma	1	4	6	1	2.58

Athira Pharma presently has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 77.94%. Vor Biopharma has a consensus target price of $66.13, indicating a potential upside of 315.88%. Given Vor Biopharma’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vor Biopharma is more favorable than Athira Pharma.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.1% of Athira Pharma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of Vor Biopharma shares are owned by institutional investors. 19.8% of Athira Pharma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Vor Biopharma shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Athira Pharma and Vor Biopharma”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Athira Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$96.94 million	($9.68)	-0.58
Vor Biopharma	N/A	N/A	N/A	($386.83)	-0.04

Athira Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Vor Biopharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Athira Pharma and Vor Biopharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Athira Pharma	N/A	-107.06%	-89.89%
Vor Biopharma	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Vor Biopharma beats Athira Pharma on 8 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Athira Pharma

Athira Pharma, Inc., a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing small molecules to restore neuronal health and slow neurodegradation. The company’s lead product candidate is ATH-1017, a blood brain barrier-penetrating, small molecule HGF/MET positive modulator that is in LIFT-AD Phase 3 and ACT-AD Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as is in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat Parkinson’s disease. It also develops product candidates, which are in preclinical stage, including ATH-1019 for peripheral nervous system indications; and ATH-1020 for neuropsychiatric conditions. Athira Pharma, Inc. was formerly known as M3 Biotechnology, Inc. and changed its name to Athira Pharma, Inc. in April 2019. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.

About Vor Biopharma

Vor Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage company, develops engineered hematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies for cancer patients. It is developing VOR33, an eHSC product candidate that is in phase 1/2 to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and other hematological malignancies. The company’s VOR33 eHSCs lacks CD33, a protein that is expressed by AML blood cancer cells. The company’s eHSCs targeted therapies, such as CAR-Ts, bispecific antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates provide treatment for blood cancers. Vor Biopharma, Inc. has a collaboration agreement with Akron BioProducts to develop and manufacture cGMP nucleases. The company was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.