Head-To-Head Comparison: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) vs. Its Peers

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) is one of 844 public companies in the “Biotechnology” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Ionis Pharmaceuticals to related companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-64.76%	-111.08%	-17.41%
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Competitors	-12,359.35%	-203.09%	-30.93%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	3	19	0	2.78
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Competitors	9839	15126	45471	1588	2.54

Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $88.29, suggesting a potential upside of 184.79%. As a group, “Biotechnology” companies have a potential upside of 98.27%. Given Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ionis Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than its rivals.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$944.00 million	-$381.39 million	-8.96
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Competitors	$698.08 million	$10.43 million	-15.42

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its rivals. Ionis Pharmaceuticals is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.9% of shares of all “Biotechnology” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 13.0% of shares of all “Biotechnology” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ rivals have a beta of 1.15, meaning that their average share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ionis Pharmaceuticals beats its rivals on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Ionis Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy. It also develops medicines for various indications that are in phase 3 study, including Eplontersen as a monthly self-administered subcutaneous injection to treat all types of ATTR; Olezarsen for patients with FCS and severe hypertriglyceridemia (SHTG); Donidalorsen for patients with hereditary angioedema; ION363 for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Tofersen to inhibit the production of superoxide dismutase 1; Pelacarsen for patients with established cardiovascular disease and elevated lipoprotein(a); and Bepirovirsen to inhibit the production of viral proteins associated with hepatitis B virus. In addition, the company develops IONIS-FB-LRx to inhibit the production of complement factor B and the alternative complement pathway; and ION224 to reduce the production of diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2. It has a strategic collaboration with Biogen for the treatment of neurological disorders; and collaboration and license agreement with Metagenomi, Inc, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis, Roche, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, and PTC Therapeutics. The company was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Carlsbad, California.