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INCY vs. VRTX: Which Stock Is the Better Value Option?
Investors interested in Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks are likely familiar with Incyte (INCY - Free Report) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.
The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.
Incyte has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. Investors should feel comfortable knowing that INCY likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than VRTX has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
Value investors are also interested in a number of tried-and-true valuation metrics that help show when a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.
Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.
INCY currently has a forward P/E ratio of 11.67, while VRTX has a forward P/E of 22.58. We also note that INCY has a PEG ratio of 0.44. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. VRTX currently has a PEG ratio of 1.85.
Another notable valuation metric for INCY is its P/B ratio of 4.44. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, VRTX has a P/B of 6.80.
These metrics, and several others, help INCY earn a Value grade of B, while VRTX has been given a Value grade of C.
INCY has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than VRTX, so it seems like value investors will conclude that INCY is the superior option right now.