Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Competitors

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

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%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer AMGN or VRTX?

Vertex Pharmaceuticals received 50 more outperform votes than Amgen when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.02% of users gave Vertex Pharmaceuticals an outperform vote while only 71.81% of users gave Amgen an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Amgen	Outperform Votes 1554 71.81%	Underperform Votes 610 28.19%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	Outperform Votes 1604 75.02%	Underperform Votes 534 24.98%

Which has more volatility and risk, AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen has a beta of 0.59, suggesting that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.5, suggesting that its stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AMGN or VRTX?

76.5% of Amgen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Amgen shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend AMGN or VRTX?

Amgen presently has a consensus target price of $310.57, indicating a potential upside of 6.75%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $514.91, indicating a potential upside of 1.06%. Given Amgen's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Amgen is more favorable than Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amgen	2 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	14 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.64

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, 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	$33.42B	4.68	$4.09B	$7.55	38.53
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$11.02B	11.89	-$535.60M	-$2.20	-231.59

Does the media refer more to AMGN or VRTX?

In the previous week, Amgen had 4 more articles in the media than Vertex Pharmaceuticals. MarketBeat recorded 47 mentions for Amgen and 43 mentions for Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Vertex Pharmaceuticals' average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat Amgen's score of 1.06 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	28 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	26 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Amgen beats Vertex Pharmaceuticals on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.