Contrasting Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) and Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ:APTO)

Aptose Biosciences (NASDAQ:APTO) and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) are both medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and profitability.

Risk and Volatility

Aptose Biosciences has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gilead Sciences has a beta of 0.18, meaning that its stock price is 82% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Aptose Biosciences and Gilead Sciences’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Aptose Biosciences	N/A	-5,683.22%	-279.77%
Gilead Sciences	3.79%	29.34%	10.10%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

26.6% of Aptose Biosciences shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.7% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.6% of Aptose Biosciences shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Gilead Sciences shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Aptose Biosciences and Gilead Sciences”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Aptose Biosciences	N/A	N/A	-$51.21 million	($6.20)	-0.06
Gilead Sciences	$27.81 billion	3.89	$5.67 billion	$0.36	240.97

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Aptose Biosciences and Gilead Sciences, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Aptose Biosciences	0	0	4	0	3.00
Gilead Sciences	0	10	9	1	2.55

Aptose Biosciences currently has a consensus target price of $9.00, indicating a potential upside of 2,345.65%. Gilead Sciences has a consensus target price of $84.83, indicating a potential downside of 2.21%. Given Aptose Biosciences’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aptose Biosciences is more favorable than Gilead Sciences.

Summary

Gilead Sciences beats Aptose Biosciences on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aptose Biosciences

Aptose Biosciences Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, discovers and develops personalized therapies addressing unmet medical needs in oncology in Canada. Its lead clinical program is APTO-253, which is a Phase I clinical trial for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory hematologic malignancies. The company has an agreement with CrystalGenomics, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize CG026806, a non-covalent small molecule therapeutic agent, which is in preclinical stage for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/mantle cell lymphoma. The company was formerly known as Lorus Therapeutics Inc. and changed its name to Aptose Biosciences Inc. in August 2014. Aptose Biosciences Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada.

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, Sunlencs, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of COVID-19; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis. It also offers Yescarta, Tecartus, and Trodelvy products for the treatment of oncology; Letairis, an oral formulation for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension; and AmBisome, a liposomal formulation for the treatment of serious invasive fungal infections. The company has collaboration agreements with Arcus Biosciences, Inc.; Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.; Pionyr Immunotherapeutics Inc.; Tizona Therapeutics, Inc.; Galapagos NV; Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company; Japan Tobacco, Inc.; Dragonfly Therapeutics, Inc.; Arcellx, Inc.; Everest Medicines; Merck & Co, Inc.; Tentarix Biotherapeutics Inc.; and Assembly Biosciences, Inc. It also has research collaboration, option, and license agreement with Merus N.V. for the discovery of novel dual tumor-associated antigens (TAA) targeting trispecific antibodies. The company was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Foster City, California.