Head-To-Head Review: Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) versus Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY)

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) and Vir Biotechnology (NASDAQ:VIR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Vir Biotechnology”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	$3.71 billion	8.41	$313.75 million	$5.38	43.36
Vir Biotechnology	$68.56 million	25.20	-$437.99 million	($1.86)	-5.49

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has higher revenue and earnings than Vir Biotechnology. Vir Biotechnology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.0% of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Vir Biotechnology shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of Vir Biotechnology shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Vir Biotechnology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	15.26%	84.93%	14.30%
Vir Biotechnology	N/A	-29.99%	-23.62%

Risk and Volatility

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.28, meaning that its stock price is 72% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vir Biotechnology has a beta of 1.59, meaning that its stock price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Vir Biotechnology, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals	0	6	16	4	2.92
Vir Biotechnology	2	0	6	1	2.67

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $364.95, suggesting a potential upside of 56.44%. Vir Biotechnology has a consensus price target of $21.86, suggesting a potential upside of 114.08%. Given Vir Biotechnology’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Vir Biotechnology is more favorable than Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Summary

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals beats Vir Biotechnology on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interference. Its marketed products include ONPATTRO (patisiran) for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults; AMVUTTRA for the treatment of hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in adults; GIVLAARI for the treatment of adults with acute hepatic porphyria; and OXLUMO for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1. In addition, the company develops patisiran for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis, or ATTR amyloidosis, with cardiomyopathy; cemdisiran to treat complement-mediated diseases; Belcesiran for the treatment of alpha-1 liver disease; Elebsiran to treat chronic HBV infection; Zilebesiran to treat hypertension; ALN-APP to treat Alzheimer's disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy; and ALN-HSD to treat NASH. Further, it offers Fitusiran for the treatment of hemophilia, Inclisiran to treat hypercholesterolemia, lumasiran for the treatment of advanced PH1, and vutrisiran for the treatment of ATTR amyloidosis, which is in phase 3 clinical trial. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has strategic collaborations with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to discover, develop, and commercialize RNAi therapeutics for a range of diseases by addressing therapeutic targets expressed in the eye and CNS; and Roche to develop pharmaceutical products containing zilebesiran. It also has license and collaboration agreements with Novartis AG; Vir Biotechnology, Inc.; Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and PeptiDream, Inc. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Vir Biotechnology

Vir Biotechnology, Inc., an immunology company, develops therapeutic products to treat and prevent serious infectious diseases. Its clinical development pipeline consists of product candidates targeting hepatitis delta virus (HDV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The company’s preclinical candidates include those targeting influenza A and B, coronavirus disease 2019, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (MPV), and human papillomavirus (HPV). The company has grant agreements with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health; an option and license agreement with Brii Biosciences Limited; a collaboration and license agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; license agreements with MedImmune, LLC; collaboration with WuXi Biologics (Hong Kong) Limited and Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd.; and a collaborative research agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals S.A, as well as license agreement with Sanofi for three clinical-stage masked T-cell engagers (TCEs) and exclusive use of the protease-cleavable masking platform for oncology and infectious diseases. It also has a manufacturing agreement with Samsung Biologics Co.,Ltd. The company was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.