Biogen vs Vertex Pharmaceuticals
BIIB and VRTX side by side, both in drugs. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How BIIB and VRTX compare
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the larger company, worth 3.8 times as much as Biogen ($142B against $37.5B).
On earnings, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is cheaper: it trades at 32.5× trailing earnings, against 44.9× for Biogen.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (10.2% versus 0.31% for Biogen).
Vertex Pharmaceuticals keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 35.0% compared with 8.3% at Biogen.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals scores higher on the StockData Score (15 against 4 for Biogen), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | BIIB | VRTX |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $37.5B | $142B |
| Share price | $253.62 | $558.88 |
| Change, 1 year | 71.5% | 34.0% |
| Change, 5 years | −9.0% | 190% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.51 | 0.54 |
| Employees | 7,500 | 600K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 4 | 15 (better) |
| Valuation score | 1 (better) | 0 |
| Growth score | 0 | 3 (better) |
| Performance score | 1 | 6 (better) |
| Health score | 2 | 6 (better) |
| Dividend score | 0 | 0 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 44.9× | 32.5× (better) |
| P/S | 3.7× (better) | 11.3× |
| P/B | – | 7.0× |
| EV/EBITDA | 16.9× (better) | 26.8× |
| P/FCF | 13.9× (better) | 37.3× |
| PEG | – | 5.32 |
| FCF yield | 7.2% (better) | 2.7% |
| Fair value | $157.62 | $407.96 |
| Margin of safety | −60.9% | −37.0% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 0.31% | 10.2% (better) |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | −6.0% | 14.1% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −45.5% | 21.1% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −46.0% | 22.4% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | −18.7% | 8.3% (better) |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 74.0% | 86.0% (better) |
| Operating margin | – | 38.0% |
| Net margin | 8.3% | 35.0% (better) |
| FCF margin | 26.9% | 30.2% (better) |
| Return on equity | – | 23.5% |
| Return on invested capital | – | 34.4% |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | – | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 1.87 | 3.19 (better) |
| Altman Z-score | 3.05 | 14.06 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 7 (better) |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Buyback yield | – | 1.4% |
| Shareholder yield | 0.00% | 1.4% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 96.3% | 95.6% |
| Held by insiders | 0.21% | 0.23% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$905K (better) | −$158M |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | 1 |
| Short interest, % of float | 4.0% | 1.8% |
Go deeper
- BIIB stock overview
- BIIB income statement
- BIIB valuation and score
- VRTX stock overview
- VRTX income statement
- VRTX valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.