Critical Survey: Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) vs. BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB)

Arcellx (NASDAQ:ACLX) and BioAtla (NASDAQ:BCAB) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Arcellx and BioAtla, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcellx	0	0	13	1	3.07
BioAtla	0	0	3	0	3.00

Arcellx currently has a consensus price target of $78.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.99%. BioAtla has a consensus price target of $8.67, suggesting a potential upside of 473.95%. Given BioAtla’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe BioAtla is more favorable than Arcellx.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.0% of Arcellx shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.2% of BioAtla shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.2% of Arcellx shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.5% of BioAtla shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Arcellx has a beta of 0.23, indicating that its share price is 77% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BioAtla has a beta of 1.08, indicating that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Arcellx and BioAtla’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcellx	-38.39%	-13.11%	-7.11%
BioAtla	N/A	-140.44%	-88.35%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Arcellx and BioAtla’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arcellx	$110.32 million	27.22	-$70.69 million	($1.03)	-54.49
BioAtla	$250,000.00	290.64	-$123.46 million	($2.49)	-0.61

Arcellx has higher revenue and earnings than BioAtla. Arcellx is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BioAtla, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Arcellx beats BioAtla on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arcellx

Arcellx, Inc., together with its subsidiary, engages in the development of various immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases in the United States. The company's lead ddCAR product candidate is anitocabtagene autoleucel, which is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM). It also develops ACLX-001, a product candidate in Phase 1 clinical trials targeting BCMA to treat rrMM; and ACLX-002, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials that targets CD123 for treating relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). In addition, the company's preclinical product includes ACLX-003 for the treatment of AML and MDS. Further, it focuses on the development of product candidates for solid tumor programs. It has a strategic alliance with Kite Pharma, Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize anitocabtagene autoleucel. The company was formerly known as Encarta Therapeutics, Inc. and changed its name to Arcellx, Inc. in January 2016. Arcellx, Inc. was incorporated in 2014 and is headquartered in Redwood City, 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.