Purple Biotech (NASDAQ:PPBT) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) Financial Analysis

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) and Purple Biotech (NASDAQ:PPBT) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Purple Biotech”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$874.09 million	11.62	-$381.39 million	($3.46)	-17.67
Purple Biotech	N/A	N/A	-$26.39 million	($23.25)	-0.07

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 9.6% of Purple Biotech shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Purple Biotech shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Purple Biotech has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-64.76%	-111.08%	-17.41%
Purple Biotech	N/A	-147.77%	-111.59%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Purple Biotech, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	4	17	0	2.73
Purple Biotech	1	1	1	0	2.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $94.15, indicating a potential upside of 53.99%. Purple Biotech has a consensus price target of $30.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,644.19%. Given Purple Biotech’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Purple Biotech is more favorable than Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Ionis Pharmaceuticals beats Purple Biotech on 7 of the 13 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 Purple Biotech

Purple Biotech Ltd., a clinical-stage company, focuses on developing therapies to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance for cancer patients in the United States. Its oncology pipeline includes CM24, a humanized monoclonal antibody that blocks the interactions of carcinoembryonic antigen related cell adhesion molecule 1 as a combination therapy with anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; NT219, a small molecule that targets and inhibits insulin receptor substrate 1 and 2, and signal transducer and activator of transcription, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer or colorectal adenocarcinoma; and IM1240, a multi-valent antibody designed to activate anti-tumoral immune response against 5T4-positive tumors, which is in preclinical stage. The company has collaboration agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb Company to evaluate the combination of CM24 with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab in addition to chemotherapy. The company was formerly known as Kitov Pharma Ltd and changed its name to Purple Biotech Ltd. in December 2020. The company is headquartered in Rehovot, Israel.