Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) versus Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK) Critical Contrast

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Scholar Rock’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adaptive Biotechnologies	$170.28 million	3.72	-$225.25 million	($1.49)	-2.89
Scholar Rock	$33.19 million	20.93	-$165.79 million	($2.09)	-4.17

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Adaptive Biotechnologies and Scholar Rock, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adaptive Biotechnologies	0	2	4	0	2.67
Scholar Rock	0	0	6	1	3.14

Adaptive Biotechnologies presently has a consensus target price of $6.40, suggesting a potential upside of 48.84%. Scholar Rock has a consensus target price of $26.00, suggesting a potential upside of 198.51%. Given Scholar Rock’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Scholar Rock is more favorable than Adaptive Biotechnologies.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

99.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of Scholar Rock shares are held by institutional investors. 6.2% of Adaptive Biotechnologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 26.2% of Scholar Rock shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Adaptive Biotechnologies has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Scholar Rock has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Adaptive Biotechnologies and Scholar Rock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adaptive Biotechnologies	-126.49%	-57.43%	-27.14%
Scholar Rock	N/A	-94.20%	-65.81%

Summary

Scholar Rock beats Adaptive Biotechnologies on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Scholar Rock

Scholar Rock Holding Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and delivery of medicines for the treatment of serious diseases in which signaling by protein growth factors plays a fundamental role. The company develops Apitegromab, an inhibitor of the activation of myostatin that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy; and SRK-181, which has completed Phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of cancers that are resistant to checkpoint inhibitor therapies, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody therapies. It is developing a pipeline of product candidates to deliver novel therapies to treat a range of serious diseases, including neuromuscular disorders, cardiometabolic disorders, cancer, fibrosis, and iron-restricted anemia. Scholar Rock Holding Corporation was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.