Critical Comparison: Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) & Pluri (NASDAQ:PLUR)

Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IONS) and Pluri (NASDAQ:PLUR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Pluri, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	1	3	19	0	2.78
Pluri	1	0	0	0	1.00

Ionis Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus price target of $89.48, suggesting a potential upside of 123.41%. Given Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ionis Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Pluri.

Volatility & Risk

Ionis Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 0.43, indicating that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pluri has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Pluri”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	7.05	-$381.39 million	($3.46)	-11.58
Pluri	$1.02 million	15.09	-$23.82 million	($2.45)	-0.50

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ionis Pharmaceuticals	-64.76%	-111.08%	-17.41%
Pluri	-2,344.59%	N/A	-82.71%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.9% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.6% of Pluri shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.8% of Ionis Pharmaceuticals shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 43.2% of Pluri shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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 Pluri

Pluri Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development of placenta-based cell therapy product candidates for the treatment of inflammatory, muscle injuries, and hematologic conditions. It operates in the field of regenerative medicine, food-tech, and biologics and focuses on establishing partnerships that leverage its 3D cell-based technology to additional industries that require mass cell production. The company's development pipeline includes PLX-PAD, is composed of maternal mesenchymal stromal cells originating from the placenta that is currently under phase III study for orthopedic, phase II study for COVID-19, and phase I/II clinical study for Steroid-Refractory cGVHD indications; and PLX-R18, is composed of fetal MSC like cells originating from the placenta that is currently under phase I study for HCT and pilot study for ARS indications. It is also involved in the development of modified PLX cells. The company was formerly known as Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. and changed its name to Pluri Inc. in July 2022. Pluri Inc. was incorporated in 2001 and is based in Haifa, Israel.