Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Annexon (NASDAQ:ANNX) Head to Head Analysis

Annexon (NASDAQ:ANNX) and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) are both medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Annexon and Eli Lilly and Company, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Annexon	0	0	6	0	3.00
Eli Lilly and Company	0	3	16	0	2.84

Annexon presently has a consensus price target of $15.80, indicating a potential upside of 125.07%. Eli Lilly and Company has a consensus price target of $979.29, indicating a potential upside of 7.53%. Given Annexon’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Annexon is more favorable than Eli Lilly and Company.

Profitability

This table compares Annexon and Eli Lilly and Company’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Annexon	N/A	-44.68%	-38.02%
Eli Lilly and Company	18.86%	67.52%	12.76%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.5% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by institutional investors. 12.7% of Annexon shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Annexon and Eli Lilly and Company”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Annexon	N/A	N/A	-$134.24 million	($1.47)	-4.78
Eli Lilly and Company	$38.92 billion	22.24	$5.24 billion	$6.79	134.12

Eli Lilly and Company has higher revenue and earnings than Annexon. Annexon is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eli Lilly and Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Annexon has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eli Lilly and Company has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Eli Lilly and Company beats Annexon on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Annexon

Annexon, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops medicines for treating inflammatory-related diseases. Its lead candidate is ANX005, an investigational full-length monoclonal antibody, which is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with guillain-barré syndrome; completed Phase II clinical trial for treating Huntington's disease; and in Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company is also developing ANX007, an antigen-binding fragment (Fab) that is in Phase 3 program for the treatment of patients with geographic atrophy; and ANX1502, a novel oral small molecule inhibitor, which is in Phase 1 clinical trials for autoimmune indications. In addition, it develops ANX009, a C1q-blocking Fab that is in Phase I clinical trial for treating patients with lupus nephritis. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Brisbane, California.

About Eli Lilly and Company

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity. It also provides oncology products, including Alimta, Cyramza, Erbitux, Jaypirca, Retevmo, Tyvyt, and Verzenio. In addition, the company offers Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, severe alopecia areata, and COVID-19; Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis; Omvoh for ulcerative colitis; Cymbalta for depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain; Ebglyss for severe atopic dermatitis; and Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache. Further, it provides Cialis for erectile dysfunction and benign prostatic hyperplasia; and Forteo for osteoporosis. It has collaborations with Incyte Corporation; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Genentech, Inc.; Biologics, Inc., AbCellera Biologics Inc.; and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.