Analyzing Ionis Pharmaceuticals (IONS) and Its Peers

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	3	19	0	2.78
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Competitors	9793	15079	45386	1576	2.54

Ionis Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus target price of $89.48, indicating a potential upside of 130.61%. As a group, “Biotechnology” companies have a potential upside of 102.82%. Given Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ionis Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and its peers’ 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%

Earnings and Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$944.00 million	-$381.39 million	-11.21
Ionis Pharmaceuticals Competitors	$697.88 million	$11.96 million	-10.91

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

Risk & Volatility

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

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

Summary

Ionis Pharmaceuticals beats its peers on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

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.