3 Undervalued Pharmaceuticals Stocks for Wednesday, January 31

By Eunice Kim
January 31, 2024
Diamond graphic indicating best value stocks in their industry
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Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.

Latest Pharmaceuticals Stock News

Before choosing which top Pharmaceuticals stock to buy, be sure to conduct proper due diligence: analyze various financial metrics and look at historical data, public statements and news coverage.

The outlook for the Pharmaceuticals sub-industry is positive as the world returns to normalcy and demand for electives and improved medical utilization. COVID-19 therapies, oncology and immunology are essential aspects of pharmaceutical companies. Should COVID-19 variants continue to arise getting a COVID-19 vaccine could become a seasonal phenomenon, much like the flu vaccine. If that were to happen, it would prove to be very lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, as it would generate recurring sales. Recent FDA recommendations, such as approval for a fourth booster dose for those aged 50 or older, suggests we may be moving in this direction. Generic drug makers are expected to continue to struggle due to lower-cost emerging market competition. Despite this, policy risks are on the rise. Lowering drug prices continues to be a bipartisan issue as both parties aim to offer Americans more affordable prices. While this provides uncertainty in the long-term, it is unlikely that legislation will get passed in the near future due to more pressing issues in the political agenda. Year to date through June 3, the S&P Pharmaceuticals Index was up 1.5% vs. a 13.6% decline for the S&P Composite 1500 Index. In 2021, the S&P Pharmaceuticals Index returned a gain of 21.8%, vs. a gain of 26.7% for the S&P Composite 1500.

Why Focus on Undervalued Pharmaceuticals Stocks?

Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.

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3 Undervalued Pharmaceuticals Stocks

Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry for Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Pharmaceuticals industry median.

Company Ticker Price/Sales Price/Earnings EV/EBITDA Shareholder Yield Price/Book Value Price/Free Cash Flow Value Grade
Aurora Cannabis Inc ACB 0.58 na na (27.8%) 0.30 na B
Equillium Inc EQ 0.69 na 0.9 (1.5%) 1.22 na B
I-Mab ADR IMAB na na 0.3 (13.3%) 0.45 na A

The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.

The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)

Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).

As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.

Aurora Cannabis Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score ACB Industry Median
Price/Sales 22 0.58 2.27
Price/Earnings na na 25.9
EV/EBITDA na na 9.7
Shareholder Yield 88 (27.8%) (3.5%)
Price/Book Value 5 0.30 1.85
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 16.1

Aurora Cannabis Inc. is a Canada-based medical cannabis company. The Company's principal business lines are focused on the production, distribution, and sale of cannabis related products in Canada and internationally. The Company’s segments include Canadian Cannabis, European Cannabis and Plant Propagation. The Company's adult-use brand portfolio includes Aurora Drift, San Rafael '71, Daily Special, Whistler, Being and Greybeard, as well as CBD brands, Reliva and KG7. Its medical cannabis brands include MedReleaf, CanniMed, Aurora and Whistler Medical Marijuana Co, as well as international brands, Pedanios, Bidiol and CraftPlant. Its cannabis products are primarily cultivated and manufactured in the facilities in Bradford Ontario, Pemberton, British Columbia, and Odense, Denmark. The Company is focused on offering its cannabis products to global medical cannabis market, recreational cannabis market and global hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) markets.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Aurora Cannabis Inc has a Value Score of 68, which is considered to be undervalued.

When you look at Aurora Cannabis Inc’s price-to-sales ratio at 0.58 compared to the industry median at 2.27, this company has a lower price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Aurora Cannabis Inc’s stock more attractive for value investors.

Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Aurora Cannabis Inc’s shareholder yield is lower than its industry median ratio of (3.46%). Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.

As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Aurora Cannabis Inc’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 1.85. This could make Aurora Cannabis Inc more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.

Equillium Inc’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score EQ Industry Median
Price/Sales 26 0.69 2.27
Price/Earnings na na 25.9
EV/EBITDA 4 0.9 9.7
Shareholder Yield 62 (1.5%) (3.5%)
Price/Book Value 37 1.22 1.85
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 16.1

Equillium, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that develops therapeutics to treat severe autoimmune and inflammatory, or immuno-inflammatory, disorders with high unmet medical needs. Its pipeline consists of novel, first-in-class immunomodulatory assets targeting immuno-inflammatory pathways. EQ101 is a tri-specific cytokine inhibitor that selectively targets IL-2, IL-9, and IL-15, which is under evaluation in a Phase II clinical study of patients with alopecia areata. EQ102 is a bi-specific cytokine inhibitor that selectively targets IL-15 and IL-21 and is under evaluation in a Phase I first-in-human clinical study that includes healthy volunteers and celiac disease patients. Itolizumab is a monoclonal antibody that targets the CD6-ALCAM signaling pathway for the modulation of effector T cells and is under evaluation in a Phase III clinical study of patients with acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and a Phase Ib clinical study of patients with lupus/lupus nephritis.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

Equillium Inc has a Value Score of 79, which is considered to be undervalued.

Equillium Inc’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Equillium Inc less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.85.

You can read more about Equillium Inc’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

I-Mab ADR’s Value Grade

Value Grade:

Metric Score IMAB Industry Median
Price/Sales na na 2.27
Price/Earnings na na 25.9
EV/EBITDA 1 0.3 9.7
Shareholder Yield 82 (13.3%) (3.5%)
Price/Book Value 9 0.45 1.85
Price/Free Cash Flow na na 16.1

I-Mab is a China-based company mainly engaged in the development of innovative global biotechnology. The Company's main businesses include engaging in track record in innovation, developing innovative drug candidates and conduct clinical validation of the assets and commercialization. The Company's pipeline is composed of ten clinical-stage assets and ten preclinical assets, among which seven assets have moved to Phase 2 or Phase 3 clinical trial stage. Its pipeline is expected to yield three near-term NDA filings and/or product launches, including felzartamab for multiple myeloma (MM), eftansomatropin alfa for pediatric growth hormone deficiency (PGHD), and potentially lemzoparlimab for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and later for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.

I-Mab ADR has a Value Score of 83, which is considered to be undervalued.

I-Mab ADR’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make I-Mab ADR less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 1.85.

You can read more about I-Mab ADR’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.

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Other Pharmaceuticals Stock Grades

Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.

Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Pharmaceuticals stocks as well as other industrys.

Choosing Which of the 3 Best Pharmaceuticals Stocks Is Right for You

Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.

  • Aurora Cannabis Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
  • Equillium Inc stock has a Value Grade of B.
  • I-Mab ADR stock has a Value Grade of A.

Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.

We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.

A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

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Additional Resources About Pharmaceuticals Stocks

Want to learn more about Pharmaceuticals stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.



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