Novavax (NVAX) Competitors

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

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

53.0% of Novavax shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Novavax shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 7.0% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk & volatility, NVAX or LGND?

Novavax has a beta of 2.81, meaning that its stock price is 181% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to NVAX or LGND?

In the previous week, Ligand Pharmaceuticals had 3 more articles in the media than Novavax. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for Ligand Pharmaceuticals and 4 mentions for Novavax. Ligand Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Novavax's score of 0.31 indicating that Ligand Pharmaceuticals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Novavax	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	4 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 NVAX or LGND?

Novavax currently has a consensus target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 165.75%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $146.14, indicating a potential upside of 27.53%. Given Novavax's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Novavax is more favorable than Ligand Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novavax	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is NVAX or LGND more profitable?

Novavax has a net margin of 38.14% compared to Ligand Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -73.07%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals' return on equity of -7.83% beat Novavax's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novavax	38.14%	-115.51%	29.99%
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	-73.07%	-7.83%	-6.92%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, NVAX or LGND?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Novavax. Ligand Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Novavax, 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
Novavax	$682.16M	1.52	-$187.50M	$2.65	2.41
Ligand Pharmaceuticals	$167.13M	13.23	-$4.03M	-$7.12	-16.10

Summary

Ligand Pharmaceuticals beats Novavax on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.