Reviewing Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) & NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ:NAMS)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) and NewAmsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ:NAMS) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and NewAmsterdam Pharma”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$944.00 million	13.17	-$381.39 million	($2.07)	-36.37
NewAmsterdam Pharma	$22.50 million	145.27	-$203.82 million	($1.73)	-16.43

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

Volatility and Risk

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NewAmsterdam Pharma has a beta of 0.02, meaning that its stock price is 98% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.9% of NewAmsterdam Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. 2.6% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.8% of NewAmsterdam Pharma shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-30.91%	-58.65%	-10.07%
NewAmsterdam Pharma	-906.22%	-26.67%	-24.82%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and NewAmsterdam Pharma, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	2	17	1	2.86
NewAmsterdam Pharma	1	1	9	1	2.83

Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus target price of $99.35, suggesting a potential upside of 31.97%. NewAmsterdam Pharma has a consensus target price of $48.00, suggesting a potential upside of 68.84%. Given NewAmsterdam Pharma’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NewAmsterdam Pharma is more favorable than Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

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 NewAmsterdam Pharma

NewAmsterdam Pharma Company N.V., a late-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops therapies to enhance patient care in populations with metabolic disease. It is developing obicetrapib, an oral low-dose cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) inhibitor, that is in various clinical trials as a monotherapy and a combination therapy with ezetimibe for lowering LDL-C for cardiovascular diseases. The company also develops Obicetrapib which is in Phase 2a clinical trial for Alzheimer’s disease. NewAmsterdam Pharma Company N.V. is headquartered in Naarden, the Netherlands.