Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Competitors

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, community ranking, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation and media sentiment.

Which has more volatility and risk, AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen has a beta of 0.51, meaning that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen has higher revenue and earnings than Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amgen, 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
Amgen	$34.13B	4.62	$4.09B	$10.96	26.77
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$11.10B	10.45	-$535.60M	-$3.92	-115.18

Is AMGN or VRTX more profitable?

Amgen has a net margin of 12.24% compared to Vertex Pharmaceuticals' net margin of -4.86%. Amgen's return on equity of 176.32% beat Vertex Pharmaceuticals' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amgen	12.24%	176.32%	11.71%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	-4.86%	-2.02%	-1.49%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in AMGN or VRTX?

76.5% of Amgen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Amgen shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AMGN or VRTX?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals received 49 more outperform votes than Amgen when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.79% of users gave Vertex Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote while only 71.71% of users gave Amgen an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Amgen	Outperform Votes 1559 71.71%	Underperform Votes 615 28.29%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 1608 74.79%	Underperform Votes 542 25.21%

Do analysts rate AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen presently has a consensus price target of $309.22, suggesting a potential upside of 5.38%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $515.04, suggesting a potential upside of 14.07%. Given Vertex Pharmaceuticals' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Vertex Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Amgen.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amgen	2 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57

Does the media refer more to AMGN or VRTX?

In the previous week, Amgen had 35 more articles in the media than Vertex Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 56 mentions for Amgen and 21 mentions for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Amgen's score of 1.20 indicating that Vertex Pharmaceuticals is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Amgen	46 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	17 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Amgen beats Vertex Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.