Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) & Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Financial Review

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Legend Biotech has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gilead Sciences has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

70.9% of Legend Biotech shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Legend Biotech shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Legend Biotech and Gilead Sciences”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Legend Biotech	$1.03 billion	3.49	-$296.80 million	($0.01)	-1,854.00
Gilead Sciences	$30.99 billion	6.72	$8.51 billion	($3.16)	-53.15

Gilead Sciences has higher revenue and earnings than Legend Biotech. Legend Biotech is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Gilead Sciences, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Legend Biotech and Gilead Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Legend Biotech	-0.02%	-0.03%	-0.02%
Gilead Sciences	-12.47%	-1.85%	-0.61%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Legend Biotech and Gilead Sciences, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Legend Biotech	1	5	9	0	2.53
Gilead Sciences	0	6	23	0	2.79

Legend Biotech currently has a consensus target price of $50.85, suggesting a potential upside of 174.25%. Gilead Sciences has a consensus target price of $171.07, suggesting a potential upside of 1.86%. Given Legend Biotech’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Legend Biotech is more favorable than Gilead Sciences.

Summary

Gilead Sciences beats Legend Biotech on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Legend Biotech

Legend Biotech is a biotechnology company focused on developing cell therapies for cancer, with an emphasis on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatments. Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, and conducts research and development activities in the United States and China. Its lead product is CARVYKTI (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), a BCMA-directed CAR-T therapy for certain adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Legend developed the therapy with Janssen, now part of Johnson & Johnson’s Innovative Medicine business, which collaborates on its commercialization.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious diseases. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, the company focuses on antiviral therapies, including treatments and preventive medicines for HIV and medicines for viral hepatitis. Its products include Biktarvy for HIV and Epclusa for hepatitis C. Gilead also develops medicines in areas such as oncology and inflammatory diseases. Its portfolio includes Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral medicine used to treat COVID-19.