Critical Contrast: Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) versus Oncternal Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ONCT)

Oncternal Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ONCT) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:VRTX) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Oncternal Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oncternal Therapeutics	0	3	1	0	2.25
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	3	10	17	1	2.52

Oncternal Therapeutics currently has a consensus target price of $10.00, indicating a potential upside of 1,798.97%. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $490.38, indicating a potential upside of 16.20%. Given Oncternal Therapeutics’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Oncternal Therapeutics is more favorable than Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.0% of Oncternal Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 11.2% of Oncternal Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Vertex Pharmaceuticals shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Oncternal Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oncternal Therapeutics	-1,599.95%	-177.58%	-131.30%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	-4.52%	-1.91%	-1.43%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oncternal Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oncternal Therapeutics	$790,000.00	1.97	-$39.48 million	($11.69)	-0.05
Vertex Pharmaceuticals	$9.87 billion	11.01	$3.62 billion	($1.99)	-212.06

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

Volatility and Risk

Oncternal Therapeutics has a beta of 1.18, meaning that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Vertex Pharmaceuticals beats Oncternal Therapeutics on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oncternal Therapeutics

Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of oncology therapies for cancers with critical unmet medical needs. The company's clinical pipeline includes zilovertamab, a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds to receptor-tyrosine kinase-like Orphan Receptor 1 (ROR1); and ONCT-216, a small molecule inhibiting the biological activity of ETS-family transcription factor oncoproteins, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trial. It is also developing ONCT-808, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cells (CAR-T), which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, as well as targets ROR1; and ONCT-534, a dual-action androgen receptor inhibitor product candidate in preclinical development for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate and other androgen receptor-driven cancers. The company has license agreements with the Regents of the University of California; Georgetown University; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Shanghai Pharmaceutical (USA) Inc.; and University of Tennessee Research Foundation. Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor. The company's pipeline includes VX-522, a CFTR mRNA therapeutic designed to treat the underlying cause of CF, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial; VX-548, a non-opioid medicine for the treatment of acute and neuropathic pain which is in Phase 3 clinical trial; Exa-cel, for the treatment of sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trial. In addition, it provides inaxaplin for the treatment of APOL1-mediated focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and co-morbidities, such as hypertension which is in single Phase 2/3; VX- 880 and VX-264, treatment for Type 1 Diabetes which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trial; VX-970, which is in Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of cancer; and VX-803 and VX-984 for treatment of cancer in Phase 1 clinical trial. Further, it sells the products to specialty pharmacy and specialty distributors in the United States, as well as retail pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics. Additionally, the company has collaborations with CRISPR Therapeutics AG.; Moderna, Inc.; Entrada Therapeutics, Inc.; Arbor Biotechnologies, Inc.; Mammoth Biosciences, Inc.; and Verve Therapeutics., as well as collaborations with Tevard Biosciences to develop novel tRNA-based therapies for duchenne muscular dystrophy. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.