Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Competitors

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

Which has higher valuation and 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	$28.19B	5.34	$6.72B	$7.81	35.85
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$10.63B	10.86	$3.62B	-$1.99	-225.13

Which has more volatility & risk, AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen has a beta of 0.6, suggesting that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen presently has a consensus price target of $333.57, suggesting a potential upside of 19.15%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $499.12, suggesting a potential upside of 11.41%. Given Amgen's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Amgen is more favorable than Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amgen	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	3 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AMGN or VRTX?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals received 42 more outperform votes than Amgen when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.43% of users gave Vertex Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote while only 72.26% of users gave Amgen an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Amgen	Outperform Votes 1542 72.26%	Underperform Votes 592 27.74%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 1584 75.43%	Underperform Votes 516 24.57%

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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to AMGN or VRTX?

In the previous week, Amgen had 27 more articles in the media than Vertex Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 74 mentions for Amgen and 47 mentions for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 1.24 beat Amgen's score of 0.91 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	43 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	20 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	34 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is AMGN or VRTX more profitable?

Amgen has a net margin of 13.00% compared to Vertex Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -4.52%. Amgen's return on equity of 168.35% beat Vertex Pharmaceuticals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amgen	13.00%	168.35%	11.18%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	-4.52%	-1.91%	-1.43%

Summary

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