Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) vs. Vincerx Pharma (NASDAQ:VINC) Critical Review

Alkermes (NASDAQ:ALKS) and Vincerx Pharma (NASDAQ:VINC) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Alkermes has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vincerx Pharma has a beta of 1.6, indicating that its stock price is 60% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.2% of Alkermes shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.0% of Vincerx Pharma shares are held by institutional investors. 4.9% of Alkermes shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.2% of Vincerx Pharma shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Alkermes and Vincerx Pharma’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Alkermes	22.15%	24.92%	14.55%
Vincerx Pharma	N/A	-248.33%	-132.73%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Alkermes and Vincerx Pharma”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Alkermes	$1.66 billion	2.74	$355.76 million	$1.95	14.46
Vincerx Pharma	N/A	N/A	-$40.16 million	($1.03)	-0.29

Alkermes has higher revenue and earnings than Vincerx Pharma. Vincerx Pharma is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alkermes, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Alkermes and Vincerx Pharma, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Alkermes	1	3	8	0	2.58
Vincerx Pharma	0	0	2	0	3.00

Alkermes presently has a consensus target price of $35.42, indicating a potential upside of 25.64%. Vincerx Pharma has a consensus target price of $2.00, indicating a potential upside of 577.97%. Given Vincerx Pharma’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vincerx Pharma is more favorable than Alkermes.

Summary

Alkermes beats Vincerx Pharma on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Alkermes

Alkermes plc, a biopharmaceutical company, researches, develops, and commercializes pharmaceutical products to address unmet medical needs of patients in therapeutic areas in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products for the treatment of alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder and a pipeline of clinical and preclinical product candidates in development for neurological disorders. Its marketed products include ARISTADA, an intramuscular injectable suspension for the treatment of schizophrenia; ARISTADA INITIO for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults; VIVITROL for the treatment of alcohol and prevention of opioid dependence; and LYBALVI, an oral atypical antipsychotic drug candidate for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. It has collaboration agreements primarily with Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V., Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc, and Janssen Pharmaceutica International. The company also offers proprietary technology platforms to third parties to enable them to develop, commercialize, and manufacture products. Alkermes plc was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

About Vincerx Pharma

Vincerx Pharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, researches and develops therapies to address unmet medical needs for the treatment of cancer in the United States. It is developing enitociclib, a cyclin-dependent kinase-9 inhibitor that is in Phase 1 clinical trials for treating patients with hematologic malignancies; and VIP236, a small molecule drug conjugate that is in Phase 1 clinical trials to treat solid tumors. The company's preclinical stage product candidates include VIP943 and VIP924 for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. Vincerx Pharma, Inc. was founded in 2019 is based in Palo Alto, California.