Critical Review: Repligen (NASDAQ:RGEN) vs. Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX)

Repligen (NASDAQ:RGEN) and Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ:NBIX) are both medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares Repligen and Neurocrine Biosciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Repligen	6.51%	5.00%	3.78%
Neurocrine Biosciences	13.23%	12.85%	9.02%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.6% of Repligen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.6% of Neurocrine Biosciences shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of Repligen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of Neurocrine Biosciences shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Repligen has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Neurocrine Biosciences has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Repligen and Neurocrine Biosciences, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Repligen	0	1	8	0	2.89
Neurocrine Biosciences	0	6	16	0	2.73

Repligen currently has a consensus target price of $196.70, suggesting a potential upside of 14.67%. Neurocrine Biosciences has a consensus target price of $139.25, suggesting a potential upside of 3.41%. Given Repligen’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Repligen is more favorable than Neurocrine Biosciences.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Repligen and Neurocrine Biosciences’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Repligen	$638.76 million	14.99	$41.58 million	$0.72	238.24
Neurocrine Biosciences	$1.89 billion	7.10	$249.70 million	$2.42	55.64

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

Summary

Neurocrine Biosciences beats Repligen on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Repligen

Repligen Corporation develops and commercializes bioprocessing technologies and systems for use in biological drug manufacturing process in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. It offers Protein A ligands that are the binding components of Protein A affinity chromatography resins; and cell culture growth factor products. The company's chromatography products include OPUS pre-packed chromatography columns, which are used in the purification of biologics; and OPUS smaller-scale columns that are used in the high throughput process development screening, viral clearance validation studies, and scale down validation of chromatography processes. It also offers ELISA test kits; and chromatography resins under the CaptivA brand. In addition, the company provides filtration products, such as XCell Alternating Tangential Flow systems that are filtration devices used in upstream perfusion and cell culture processing; TangenX flat sheet cassettes, which are used in downstream biologic drug concentration, buffer exchange, and formulation processes; KrosFlo tangential flow filtration and tangential flow depth filtration systems; Spectra/Por laboratory and process dialysis products, and ProConnex TFDF flow paths. Further, it provides process analytics products, such as slope spectroscopy systems under the SoloVPE, FlowVPE, and FlowVPX brands. The company sells its products to life sciences, biopharmaceutical, and diagnostics companies; laboratory researchers; and contract manufacturing organizations. Repligen Corporation has collaboration agreements with Navigo Proteins GmbH to develop multiple affinity ligands. The company was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

About Neurocrine Biosciences

Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. discovers, develops, and markets pharmaceuticals for neurological, neuroendocrine, and neuropsychiatric disorders in the United States and internationally. The company's products include INGREZZA for tardive dyskinesia and chorea associated with Huntington's disease; ALKINDI for adrenal insufficiency; Efmody capsules for classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia; Orilissa tablets for endometriosis; and Oriahnn capsules to treat uterine fibroids. Its product candidates in clinical development include valbenazine to treat dyskinetic cerebral palsy in pediatrics and adults; NBI-921352 to treat developmental and epileptic encephalopathy syndrome in pediatrics and adults; NBI-827104 to treat epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spike-and-wave during sleep; NBI-1076986 to treat movement disorders; crinecerfront to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia in adults and children; EFMODY to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal insufficiency in adults; valbenazine for the adjunctive treatment of schizophrenia; NBI-1065845 for the treatment of inadequate response to treatment in major depressive disorder; luvadaxistat to treat cognitive impairment related to schizophrenia; NBI-1117568 for the treatment of schizophrenia; NBI-1070770 to treat major depressive disorder; NBI-1117570 for the treatment of symptoms of psychosis and cognition in neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions; and NBI-1117569, NBI-1117567, and NBI-1065890 to treat CNS indications. The company also has license and collaboration agreements with Heptares Therapeutics Limited; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Voyager Therapeutics, Inc.; BIAL Portela & Ca, S.A.; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation; and AbbVie Inc. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.