AbbVie (ABBV) Competitors

AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) and Novartis (NYSE:NVS) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking and profitability.

Is ABBV or NVS a better dividend stock?

AbbVie pays an annual dividend of $6.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.43 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. AbbVie pays out 215.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Novartis pays out 28.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AbbVie has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years. AbbVie is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor ABBV or NVS?

AbbVie received 804 more outperform votes than Novartis when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.40% of users gave AbbVie an outperform vote while only 61.01% of users gave Novartis an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AbbVie	Outperform Votes 1333 73.40%	Underperform Votes 483 26.60%
Novartis	Outperform Votes 529 61.01%	Underperform Votes 338 38.99%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, ABBV or NVS?

Novartis has lower revenue, but higher earnings than AbbVie. Novartis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AbbVie, 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
AbbVie	$54.32B	5.46	$4.86B	$2.88	58.24
Novartis	$45.44B	4.64	$14.85B	$8.61	11.97

Is ABBV or NVS more profitable?

Novartis has a net margin of 35.96% compared to AbbVie's net margin of 9.22%. AbbVie's return on equity of 244.01% beat Novartis' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AbbVie	9.22%	244.01%	13.44%
Novartis	35.96%	34.80%	15.13%

Which has more volatility and risk, ABBV or NVS?

AbbVie has a beta of 0.63, suggesting that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novartis has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ABBV or NVS?

In the previous week, AbbVie had 58 more articles in the media than Novartis. MarketBeat recorded 81 mentions for AbbVie and 23 mentions for Novartis. AbbVie's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Novartis' score of 0.61 indicating that AbbVie is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AbbVie	56 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novartis	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate ABBV or NVS?

AbbVie presently has a consensus target price of $203.37, suggesting a potential upside of 21.24%. Novartis has a consensus target price of $121.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.86%. Given AbbVie's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe AbbVie is more favorable than Novartis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AbbVie	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.90
Novartis	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.89

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of ABBV or NVS?

70.2% of AbbVie shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.1% of Novartis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of AbbVie shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Novartis shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

AbbVie beats Novartis on 17 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.