Schrödinger (NASDAQ:SDGR) & Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Critical Review

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) and Schrödinger (NASDAQ:SDGR) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Schrödinger’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-44.90%	-115.66%	-12.83%
Schrödinger	-100.42%	-38.38%	-26.66%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.1% of Schrödinger shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.6% of Schrödinger shares are owned 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.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Schrödinger”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$813.46 million	7.51	-$366.29 million	($2.67)	-15.67
Schrödinger	$200.63 million	6.87	$40.72 million	($1.88)	-10.09

Schrödinger has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Ionis Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Schrödinger, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Schrödinger has a beta of 1.51, meaning that its stock price is 51% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Schrödinger, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	6	12	2	2.71
Schrödinger	0	3	6	1	2.80

Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $60.68, indicating a potential upside of 45.07%. Schrödinger has a consensus target price of $33.44, indicating a potential upside of 76.39%. Given Schrödinger’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Schrödinger is more favorable than Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Schrödinger beats Ionis Pharmaceuticals on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. discovers and develops RNA-targeted therapeutics in the United States. The company offers SPINRAZA for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in pediatric and adult patients; TEGSEDI, an antisense injection for the treatment of polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis in adults; and WAYLIVRA, an antisense medicine for treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and familial partial lipodystrophy. It also develops medicines for various indications that are in phase 3 study, including Eplontersen as a monthly self-administered subcutaneous injection to treat all types of ATTR; Olezarsen for patients with FCS and severe hypertriglyceridemia (SHTG); Donidalorsen for patients with hereditary angioedema; ION363 for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Tofersen to inhibit the production of superoxide dismutase 1; Pelacarsen for patients with established cardiovascular disease and elevated lipoprotein(a); and Bepirovirsen to inhibit the production of viral proteins associated with hepatitis B virus. In addition, the company develops IONIS-FB-LRx to inhibit the production of complement factor B and the alternative complement pathway; and ION224 to reduce the production of diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2. It has a strategic collaboration with Biogen for the treatment of neurological disorders; and collaboration and license agreement with Metagenomi, Inc, AstraZeneca, Bayer AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis, Roche, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, and PTC Therapeutics. The company was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Carlsbad, California.

About Schrödinger

Schrödinger, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops physics-based computational platform that enables discovery of novel molecules for drug development and materials applications. The company operates in two segments, Software and Drug Discovery. The Software segment is focused on licensing its software to transform molecular discovery for life sciences and materials science industries. The Drug Discovery segment focuses on building a portfolio of preclinical and clinical programs, internally and through collaborations. The company serves biopharmaceutical and industrial companies, academic institutions, and government laboratories worldwide. Schrödinger, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in New York, New York.