Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) Competitors

Emergent BioSolutions (NYSE:EBS) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) are both medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, media sentiment and risk.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, EBS or LGND?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Emergent BioSolutions. Emergent BioSolutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ligand Pharmaceuticals, 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
Emergent BioSolutions	$1.05B	0.51	-$760.50M	-$4.10	-2.42
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	$131.31M	16.10	$52.15M	$2.51	44.58

Does the MarketBeat Community favor EBS or LGND?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals received 128 more outperform votes than Emergent BioSolutions when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.77% of users gave Ligand Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote while only 66.77% of users gave Emergent BioSolutions an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Emergent BioSolutions	Outperform Votes 424 66.77%	Underperform Votes 211 33.23%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 552 70.77%	Underperform Votes 228 29.23%

Is EBS or LGND more profitable?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a net margin of 29.68% compared to Emergent BioSolutions' net margin of -18.55%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals' return on equity of 4.95% beat Emergent BioSolutions' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Emergent BioSolutions	-18.55%	-9.91%	-3.31%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	29.68%	4.95%	4.39%

Which has more volatility and risk, EBS or LGND?

Emergent BioSolutions has a beta of 1.6, meaning that its share price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in EBS or LGND?

78.4% of Emergent BioSolutions shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Emergent BioSolutions shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.9% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer EBS or LGND?

In the previous week, Emergent BioSolutions had 7 more articles in the media than Ligand Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Emergent BioSolutions and 3 mentions for Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Ligand Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 0.76 beat Emergent BioSolutions' score of 0.44 indicating that Ligand Pharmaceuticals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Emergent BioSolutions	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate EBS or LGND?

Emergent BioSolutions presently has a consensus target price of $14.33, suggesting a potential upside of 44.71%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $147.00, suggesting a potential upside of 31.38%. Given Emergent BioSolutions' higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Emergent BioSolutions is more favorable than Ligand Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Emergent BioSolutions	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Ligand Pharmaceuticals beats Emergent BioSolutions on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.