Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (IRWD) Competitors

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

Is IRWD or GERN more profitable?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a net margin of 43.63% compared to Geron's net margin of -30,349.19%. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' return on equity of 29.40% beat Geron's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	43.63%	29.40%	17.09%
Geron	-30,349.19%	-91.38%	-55.21%

Which has more risk & volatility, IRWD or GERN?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Geron has a beta of 0.9, suggesting that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in IRWD or GERN?

49.8% of Geron shares are held by institutional investors. 13.1% of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Geron shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer IRWD or GERN?

In the previous week, Geron had 2 more articles in the media than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Geron and 5 mentions for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. Geron's average media sentiment score of 0.03 beat Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' score of -0.27 indicating that Geron 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)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Geron	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, IRWD or GERN?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Geron. Geron is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ironwood 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
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	$410.60 million	4.37	$175.07 million	$1.01	11.51
Geron	$600 thousand	3,061.10	-$141.90 million	-$0.34	-10.62

Do analysts rate IRWD or GERN?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $15.67, suggesting a potential upside of 35.64%. Geron has a consensus price target of $5.00, suggesting a potential upside of 38.50%. Given Geron's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Geron is more favorable than Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Geron	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Does the MarketBeat Community favor IRWD or GERN?

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals received 23 more outperform votes than Geron when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 69.13% of users gave Geron an outperform vote while only 60.92% of users gave Ironwood Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 491 60.92%	Underperform Votes 315 39.08%
Geron	Outperform Votes 468 69.13%	Underperform Votes 209 30.87%

Summary

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals beats Geron on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.