Verastem (VSTM) Competitors

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

Which has better earnings and valuation, IRWD or VSTM?

Verastem has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Verastem, 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
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	$378.42M	1.60	-$1.00B	-$0.03	-126.33
Verastem	$2.60M	92.27	-$87.37M	-$3.19	-1.69

Do analysts prefer IRWD or VSTM?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus price target of $10.40, indicating a potential upside of 174.41%. Verastem has a consensus price target of $13.38, indicating a potential upside of 148.14%. Given Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Ironwood Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Verastem.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Verastem	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in IRWD or VSTM?

88.4% of Verastem shares are owned by institutional investors. 12.9% of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.2% of Verastem shares are owned 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.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor IRWD or VSTM?

Verastem received 101 more outperform votes than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.21% of users gave Verastem an outperform vote while only 61.08% of users gave Ironwood Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 510 61.08%	Underperform Votes 325 38.92%
Verastem	Outperform Votes 611 65.21%	Underperform Votes 326 34.79%

Is IRWD or VSTM more profitable?

Verastem has a net margin of 0.00% compared to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -0.65%. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' return on equity of -0.96% beat Verastem's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	-0.65%	-0.96%	0.74%
Verastem	N/A	-332.73%	-73.97%

Does the media favor IRWD or VSTM?

In the previous week, Verastem had 2 more articles in the media than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Verastem and 4 mentions for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. Verastem's average media sentiment score of 0.49 beat Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' score of 0.35 indicating that Verastem is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Verastem	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more risk and volatility, IRWD or VSTM?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its share price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Verastem has a beta of 0.24, indicating that its share price is 76% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Verastem beats Ironwood Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.