Gilead Sciences (GILD) Competitors

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) and Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, media sentiment, valuation and earnings.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, GILD or LGND?

Gilead Sciences has higher revenue and earnings than Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Ligand Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gilead Sciences, 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
Gilead Sciences	$28.75B	4.77	$480M	$4.75	23.22
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	$167.13M	16.89	-$4.03M	-$7.12	-20.55

Which has more risk & volatility, GILD or LGND?

Gilead Sciences has a beta of 0.33, indicating that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.85, indicating that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer GILD or LGND?

In the previous week, Gilead Sciences had 48 more articles in the media than Ligand Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 59 mentions for Gilead Sciences and 11 mentions for Ligand Pharmaceuticals. Gilead Sciences' average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat Ligand Pharmaceuticals' score of 0.29 indicating that Gilead Sciences is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Gilead Sciences	42 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	4 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of GILD or LGND?

83.7% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 7.0% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer GILD or LGND?

Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus price target of $112.36, suggesting a potential upside of 1.89%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $150.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.52%. Given Ligand Pharmaceuticals' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Ligand Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Gilead Sciences.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Gilead Sciences	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is GILD or LGND more profitable?

Gilead Sciences has a net margin of 20.76% compared to Ligand Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -73.07%. Gilead Sciences' return on equity of 51.93% beat Ligand Pharmaceuticals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Gilead Sciences	20.76%	51.93%	17.40%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	-73.07%	-7.83%	-6.92%

Summary

Gilead Sciences beats Ligand Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.