Head-To-Head Review: Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) and Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY)

Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) and Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) are both healthcare companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Incyte and Editas Medicine, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Incyte	0	13	11	1	2.52
Editas Medicine	1	0	6	0	2.71

Incyte presently has a consensus target price of $128.20, indicating a potential upside of 10.94%. Editas Medicine has a consensus target price of $5.83, indicating a potential upside of 146.65%. Given Editas Medicine’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Editas Medicine is more favorable than Incyte.

Volatility and Risk

Incyte has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Editas Medicine has a beta of 2, meaning that its share price is 100% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Incyte and Editas Medicine’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Incyte	27.71%	29.93%	22.88%
Editas Medicine	-157.32%	-196.63%	-38.17%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Incyte and Editas Medicine”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Incyte	$5.82 billion	4.02	$1.29 billion	$7.85	14.72
Editas Medicine	$47.01 million	7.73	-$160.06 million	($0.75)	-3.15

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.0% of Incyte shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.9% of Editas Medicine shares are held by institutional investors. 16.2% of Incyte shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 3.1% of Editas Medicine shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Incyte beats Editas Medicine on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Incyte

Incyte Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutics for hematology/oncology, and inflammation and autoimmunity areas in the United States and internationally. The company offers JAKAFI (ruxolitinib) for treatment of intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease; MONJUVI (tafasitamab-cxix)/MINJUVI (tafasitamab) for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; PEMAZYRE (pemigatinib), a fibroblast growth factor receptor kinase inhibitor that act as oncogenic drivers in liquid and solid tumor types; ICLUSIG (ponatinib) to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia; and ZYNYZ (retifanlimab-dlwr) to treat adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, as well as OPZELURA cream for treatment of atopic dermatitis. Its clinical stage products include retifanlimab under Phase 3 clinical trials for squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal and non-small cell lung cancer; axatilimab, an anti-CSF-1R monoclonal antibody under Phase 2 that is being developed as a therapy for patients with chronic GVHD; INCA033989 to inhibit oncogenesis; INCB160058, which is being developed as a disease-modifying therapeutic; and INCB99280 and INCB99318 for the treatment solid tumors. The company also develops INCB123667, INCA32459, and INCA33890, as well as Ruxolitinib cream, Povorcitinib, and INCA034460. It has collaboration out-license agreements with Novartis and Lilly; in-license agreements with Agenus, Merus, MacroGenics, and Syndax; and collaboration and license agreement with China Medical System Holdings Limited for the development and commercialization of povorcitinib. The company sells its products to specialty, retail, and hospital pharmacies, distributors, and wholesalers. The company was formerly known as Incyte Genomics Inc and changed its name to Incyte Corporation in March 2003. Incyte Corporation was incorporated in 1991 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

About Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine, Inc., a clinical stage genome editing company, focuses on developing transformative genomic medicines to treat a range of serious diseases. It develops a proprietary gene editing platform based on CRISPR technology. The company develops EDIT-101, which is in Phase 1/2 BRILLIANCE trial for Leber Congenital Amaurosis; and reni-cel, a clinical development gene-edited medicine to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. In addition, the company is developing alpha-beta T cells for solid and liquid tumors; and gamma delta T cell therapies to treat cancer. It has a research collaboration with Juno Therapeutics, Inc. to develop engineered T cells for cancer; strategic alliance and option agreement with Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Limited. The company was formerly known as Gengine, Inc. and changed its name to Editas Medicine, Inc. in November 2013. Editas Medicine, Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.