Head-To-Head Comparison: Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) versus Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAPT)

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) and Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAPT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

86.7% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.1% of Rapt Therapeutics shares are owned by institutional investors. 18.1% of Atea Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of Rapt Therapeutics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Atea Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.16, meaning that its stock price is 84% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rapt Therapeutics has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Atea Pharmaceuticals and Rapt Therapeutics, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Atea Pharmaceuticals	1	1	1	1	2.50
Rapt Therapeutics	1	2	8	2	2.85

Atea Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $6.00, suggesting a potential upside of 63.49%. Rapt Therapeutics has a consensus price target of $50.50, suggesting a potential upside of 41.14%. Given Atea Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Atea Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Rapt Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Atea Pharmaceuticals and Rapt Therapeutics’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Atea Pharmaceuticals	N/A	-38.43%	-35.88%
Rapt Therapeutics	N/A	-61.81%	-54.73%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Atea Pharmaceuticals and Rapt Therapeutics”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Atea Pharmaceuticals	N/A	N/A	-$168.38 million	($1.77)	-2.07
Rapt Therapeutics	N/A	N/A	-$129.87 million	($11.06)	-3.24

Rapt 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.

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.

About Rapt Therapeutics

RAPT Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage immunology-based biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovery, development, and commercialization of oral small molecule therapies for patients with unmet needs in oncology and inflammatory diseases in the United States. The company's lead inflammation drug candidate is zelnecirnon (RPT193), a C-C motif chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4) antagonist that selectively inhibit the migration of type 2 T helper cells into inflamed tissues. Its lead oncology drug candidate is tivumecirnon (FLX475), an oral small molecule CCR4 antagonist that is in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial to investigate as a monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with advanced cancer. The company was formerly known as FLX Bio, Inc. and changed its name to RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. in May 2019. RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is headquartered in South San Francisco, California. RAPT Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company