Biogen vs Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the larger business, with $12.0B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $9.9B for Biogen.
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals grew revenue faster (8.9%, against 2.2%).
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals turned more of its sales into free cash flow (26.6% FCF margin, against 20.7%).
- Vertex Pharmaceuticals earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (31.5%, against 7.3%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s earnings: a P/E of 30.5x against 27.0x for Biogen.
| Latest fiscal year | BIIB · FY25 | VRTX · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $37.2B | $133.7B |
| Revenue | $9.9B | $12.0B |
| Free cash flow | $2.1B | $3.2B |
| Net income | $1.3B | $4.0B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.2% | 8.9% |
| 5-year growth | −6.0% | 14.1% |
| Share count change | 0.8% | 0.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 75.7% | 86.2% |
| Operating margin | — | 34.8% |
| Net margin | 13.1% | 32.9% |
| FCF margin | 20.7% | 26.6% |
| Return on capital | 7.3% | 31.5% |
| Return on equity | 7.4% | 22.5% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $2.5B | −$6.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | −1.5x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $0.0M | $2.0B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 27.0x | 30.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
BIIB $11.4B
VRTX $1.7B
FY17
BIIB $12.3B
VRTX $2.5B
FY18
BIIB $13.5B
VRTX $3.0B
FY19
BIIB $14.4B
VRTX $4.2B
FY20
BIIB $13.4B
VRTX $6.2B
FY21
BIIB $11.0B
VRTX $7.6B
FY22
BIIB $10.2B
VRTX $8.9B
FY23
BIIB $9.8B
VRTX $9.9B
FY24
BIIB $9.7B
VRTX $11.0B
FY25
BIIB $9.9B
VRTX $12.0B
BIIB
VRTX
Operating margin
FY16
BIIB 45.0%
VRTX 0.6%
FY17
BIIB 43.6%
VRTX 5.0%
FY18
BIIB 43.8%
VRTX 20.8%
FY19
BIIB 49.0%
VRTX 28.8%
FY20
BIIB 33.8%
VRTX 46.0%
FY21
BIIB 25.9%
VRTX 36.7%
FY22
BIIB —
VRTX 48.2%
FY23
BIIB —
VRTX 38.8%
FY24
BIIB —
VRTX −2.1%
FY25
BIIB —
VRTX 34.8%
BIIB
VRTX
Free cash flow
FY16
BIIB $4.0B
VRTX $180M
FY17
BIIB $3.7B
VRTX $746M
FY18
BIIB $5.4B
VRTX $1.2B
FY19
BIIB $6.6B
VRTX $1.5B
FY20
BIIB $3.8B
VRTX $3.0B
FY21
BIIB $3.4B
VRTX $2.4B
FY22
BIIB $1.1B
VRTX $3.9B
FY23
BIIB $1.3B
VRTX $3.3B
FY24
BIIB $2.7B
VRTX −$790M
FY25
BIIB $2.1B
VRTX $3.2B
BIIB
VRTX
Return on capital
FY16
BIIB 25.0%
VRTX 1.9%
FY17
BIIB 16.7%
VRTX —
FY18
BIIB 25.7%
VRTX 77.3%
FY19
BIIB 38.0%
VRTX 49.0%
FY20
BIIB 25.4%
VRTX 91.0%
FY21
BIIB 19.1%
VRTX 83.1%
FY22
BIIB 22.4%
VRTX 100.4%
FY23
BIIB 7.8%
VRTX 60.9%
FY24
BIIB 8.9%
VRTX −1.4%
FY25
BIIB 7.3%
VRTX 31.5%
BIIB
VRTX
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.