Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:LONA) and Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) Financial Analysis

Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:LONA) and Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Athira Pharma and Takeda Pharmaceutical, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Athira Pharma	1	1	4	0	2.50
Takeda Pharmaceutical	1	1	2	0	2.25

Athira Pharma currently has a consensus price target of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 108.33%. Given Athira Pharma’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Athira Pharma is more favorable than Takeda Pharmaceutical.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

57.1% of Athira Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.2% of Takeda Pharmaceutical shares are held by institutional investors. 25.7% of Athira Pharma shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Takeda Pharmaceutical shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Athira Pharma	N/A	-381.01%	-225.74%
Takeda Pharmaceutical	3.80%	10.95%	5.34%

Volatility and Risk

Athira Pharma has a beta of 2.04, indicating that its stock price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Takeda Pharmaceutical has a beta of -0.08, indicating that its stock price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Athira Pharma and Takeda Pharmaceutical”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Athira Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$105.61 million	($5.21)	-1.47
Takeda Pharmaceutical	$28.32 billion	1.98	-$1.01 billion	$0.34	51.36

Athira Pharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Takeda Pharmaceutical. Athira Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Takeda Pharmaceutical, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Athira Pharma beats Takeda Pharmaceutical on 7 of the 13 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. Its lead product candidate is Fosgonimeton (ATH-1017), a small molecule designed to modulate the neurotrophic hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) system and its receptor, MET, for a healthy nervous system that is in LIFT-AD Phase 2/3 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 dementia and Dementia with Lewy bodies. The company's product pipeline includes ATH-1020, an orally available brain-penetrant small molecule designed to enhance the HGF/MET system that is in Phase 1 clinical trials to treat neuropathic pain and neurodegenerative diseases; and ATH-1105, an oral small molecule drug candidate, which is a preclinical model for the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In addition, it has a license agreement with Washington State University to offer for sale products covered by certain licensed patents, including dihexa, the chemical compound into which fosgonimeton metabolizes following administration; and collaboration and grant agreement with National Institutes of Health Grant to support ACT-AD Phase 2 clinical trial for fosgonimeton. The company was formerly known as M3 Biotechnology, Inc. and changed its name to Athira Pharma, Inc. in April 2019. Athira Pharma, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Bothell, Washington.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited engages in the research, development, manufacture, marketing, and out-licensing of pharmaceutical products in Japan and internationally. It offers pharmaceutical products in the areas of gastroenterology, rare diseases, plasma derived therapies, immunology, oncology, and neuroscience. The company provides its products under the Entyvio, Gattex/Revestive, Takecab/Vocinti, Alofisel, Dexilant, Pantoloc/Controloc, Adynovate/Adynovi, Feiba, Recombinate, Hemofil/Immunate/Immunine, Takhzyro, Livtencity, Elaprase, Replagal, Advate, Flexbumin, Vpriv, Gammagard Liquid/Kiovig, Hyqvia, Cuvitru, Exkivity, Ninlaro, Velcade, Azilva-F, Lotriga, Iclusig, Leuplin/Enantone, Adcetris, vyvanse/elvanse, Trintellix, and Alunbrig brands. It has in-license agreement with BioMarin, Luxna Biotech, GlaxoSmithKline, Halozyme, and Kamada; collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., Seagen Inc., Anima Biotech, Denali Therapeutics, KSQ Therapeutics, Noile-Immune Biotech, Center for iPS Cell Research Application, Kyoto University (CiRA), and Charles River Laboratories; licensing agreement with Mirum Pharmaceuticals and Twist Bioscience, UCSD/Fortis Advisors, PeptiDream, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and Xenetic Biosciences; collaboration and licensing agreement with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc., Engitix, Genevant Sciences Corporation, Sosei Heptares, Zedira/Dr. Falk Pharma, Exelixis, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Heidelberg Pharma, HUTCHMED, Presage Biosciences, Codexis, Inc., Ensoma, Envozyne, KM Biologics, and Selecta BioScience, and Ovid Therapeutics Inc.; and collaboration with ZEDIRA GmbH and Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH. It has research collaboration and licensing agreement with Crescendo Biologics, Code Bio, Immusoft, Poseida Therapeutics, and Selecta Biosciences. The company was founded in 1781 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.