Head to Head Survey: Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) versus ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	33.42%	9.03%	6.79%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	35.00%	23.09%	16.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.7% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.2% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	0	5	13	0	2.72
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	0	3	24	1	2.93

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $31.34, indicating a potential upside of 52.22%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $579.81, indicating a potential upside of 3.75%. Given ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Volatility and Risk

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.28, indicating that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals	$1.07 billion	3.31	$391.00 million	$2.22	9.27
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$12.59 billion	11.27	$3.95 billion	$17.18	32.53

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

Summary

Vertex Pharmaceuticals beats ACADIA Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome. It also develops Pimavanserin that is in Phase III ADVANCE-2 study to treat the negative symptoms of schizophrenia; ACP-101 whixh is in Phase III for the treatment of hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome; ACP-204 which is in Phase II for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis; ACP-2591 that is in Phase I for Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome; preclinical antisense oligonucleotide programs; and other programs for neuropsychiatric symptoms. It has a license agreement with Neuren Pharmaceuticals Limited to develop and commercialize trofinetide for Rett syndrome and other indications; and a license and collaboration agreement with Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. to discover, develop and commercialize novel RNA-based medicines for the potential treatment of severe and rare genetic neurodevelopmental diseases of the CNS. The company was formerly known as Receptor Technologies, Inc. and changed its name ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 1997. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor. The company's pipeline includes VX-522, a CFTR mRNA therapeutic designed to treat the underlying cause of CF, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial; VX-548, a non-opioid medicine for the treatment of acute and neuropathic pain which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; Exa-cel, for the treatment of sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trial. In addition, it provides inaxaplin for the treatment of APOL1-mediated focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and co-morbidities, such as hypertension which is in single Phase 2/3; VX- 880 and VX-264, treatment for Type 1 Diabetes which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trial; VX-970, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of cancer; and VX-803 and VX-984 for treatment of cancer in Phase 1 clinical trial. Further, it sells the products to specialty pharmacy and specialty distributors in the United States, as well as retail pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics. Additionally, the company has collaborations with CRISPR Therapeutics AG.; Moderna, Inc.; Entrada Therapeutics, Inc.; Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc.; Mammoth Biosciences, Inc.; and Verve Therapeutics., as well as collaborations with Tevard Biosciences to develop novel tRNA-based therapies for duchenne muscular dystrophy. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.