Critical Analysis: Adlai Nortye (NASDAQ:ANL) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Adlai Nortye and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Adlai Nortye	0	0	2	0	3.00
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	5	12	1	2.68

Adlai Nortye presently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 323.53%. Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $60.65, indicating a potential upside of 74.52%. Given Adlai Nortye’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Adlai Nortye is more favorable than Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Risk and Volatility

Adlai Nortye has a beta of -1.38, suggesting that its share price is 238% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.35, suggesting that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Adlai Nortye and Ionis Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Adlai Nortye	$5.00 million	15.68	-$104.87 million	N/A	N/A
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	$803.07 million	6.83	-$366.29 million	($2.44)	-14.24

Adlai Nortye has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Profitability

This table compares Adlai Nortye and Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Adlai Nortye	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-44.58%	-88.98%	-12.42%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

35.2% of Adlai Nortye shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 2.7% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Adlai Nortye beats Ionis Pharmaceuticals on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Adlai Nortye

Adlai Nortye Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery and development of cancer therapies in the United States and Mainland China. Its lead product is AN2025, a pan-phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. The company is also developing AN0025, a small molecule prostaglandin E receptor 4 antagonist to modulate the tumor microenvironment that is in a Phase Ib clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent non-small cell lung cancer and urothelial cancer after anti-PD-1/PD-L1 treatments, recurrent triple-negative breast cancer, microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer after standard of care treatments; and AN4005, an oral small-molecule PD-L1 inhibitor, which is in Phase I clinical trial to induce and stabilize PD-L1 dimerization and thereby disrupt the interaction between PD-1 and PD-L1. Its preclinical candidates include AN8025, a multifunctional antibody as T cell and antigen-presenting cell modulator; AN1025, an oral small molecule degrader of ß-catenin; and AN9025, an oral small molecule pan-KRAS inhibitor. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands.

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.