Pliant Therapeutics (NASDAQ:PLRX – Get Free Report) and BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB – Get Free Report) are both small-cap healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and dividends.
Volatility & Risk
Pliant Therapeutics has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioAtla has a beta of 0.64, meaning that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Pliant Therapeutics and BioAtla”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | $1.58 million | 33.66 | -$149.34 million | ($1.49) | -0.58 |
| BioAtla | $8.50 million | 0.41 | -$59.61 million | ($25.45) | -0.08 |
BioAtla has higher revenue and earnings than Pliant Therapeutics. Pliant Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BioAtla, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Pliant Therapeutics and BioAtla, as provided by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| BioAtla | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
Pliant Therapeutics presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 249.28%. BioAtla has a consensus target price of $200.00, indicating a potential upside of 9,423.81%. Given BioAtla’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BioAtla is more favorable than Pliant Therapeutics.
Profitability
This table compares Pliant Therapeutics and BioAtla’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Pliant Therapeutics | N/A | -52.17% | -40.46% |
| BioAtla | N/A | N/A | -289.67% |
Insider & Institutional Ownership
97.3% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of BioAtla shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of Pliant Therapeutics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of BioAtla shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
BioAtla beats Pliant Therapeutics on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Pliant Therapeutics
Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of fibrosis and related diseases in the United States. The company's lead candidate is bexotegrast, an oral, small-molecule, dual selective inhibitor of avß6 and avß1 integrins, which is in phase 2b trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in phase 2a trial for primary sclerosing cholangitis. It also develops PLN-1474, an oral, small-molecule selective inhibitor of avß1 for the treatment of liver fibrosis associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; PLN-101095, a dual inhibitor of integrins avß8 and avß1 for the treatment of solid tumors; and PLN-101325 for treatment of muscular dystrophies. Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in South San Francisco, California.
About BioAtla
BioAtla, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops specific and selective antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumor cancer. The company's lead clinical stage product candidates include mecbotamab vedotin (BA3011), a conditionally active biologic (CAB) antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); and ozuriftabmab vedotin (BA3021), a CAB ADC that is in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of melanoma and squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. It is also developing Evalstotug (BA3071), a CAB anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 antibody, which is in Phase II clinical trial for treating melanoma, carcinomas, and NSCLC; and BA3182, a bispecific candidate that is in Phase 1 study for the treatment of adenocarcinomas, as well as BA3361, which is in preclinical studies for treating multiple tumor types. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
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