Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Competitors

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership and dividends.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, AMGN or VRTX?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amgen	$33.42B	4.73	$4.09B	$7.55	38.93
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$11.02B	11.55	-$535.60M	-$2.20	-225.38

Do analysts prefer AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen currently has a consensus price target of $314.91, indicating a potential upside of 7.14%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $512.41, indicating a potential upside of 3.34%. Given Amgen's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Amgen is more favorable than Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amgen	2 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.48
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AMGN or VRTX?

76.5% of Amgen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Amgen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AMGN or VRTX more profitable?

Amgen has a net margin of 12.24% compared to Vertex Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -4.86%. Amgen's return on equity of 176.32% beat Vertex Pharmaceuticals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amgen	12.24%	176.32%	11.71%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	-4.86%	-2.02%	-1.49%

Which has more risk & volatility, AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer AMGN or VRTX?

In the previous week, Amgen had 20 more articles in the media than Vertex Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 75 mentions for Amgen and 55 mentions for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 1.29 beat Amgen's score of 0.97 indicating that Vertex Pharmaceuticals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Amgen	47 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	11 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	38 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AMGN or VRTX?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals received 50 more outperform votes than Amgen when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.01% of users gave Vertex Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote while only 71.83% of users gave Amgen an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Amgen	Outperform Votes 1553 71.83%	Underperform Votes 609 28.17%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 1603 75.01%	Underperform Votes 534 24.99%

Summary

Amgen beats Vertex Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.