VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals
$499.34
▼ 1.8%Updated Oct 16, 2:25 PM ET
Report Card
VRTX at a glance — five pillars scored 0–100 from real filed financials.
How the 0–100 rating is calculatedOverall: Favorable · 67/100. A wider, greener shape means more pillars look healthy. Dividends scores 0 when a company pays none — that is a choice, not a flaw.
Price — Past Year
▲ Up 0.7% in the year to Jul 6, 2026
Key Metrics
Market Cap
$115.02B
P/E
28.66x
Forward P/E (est.)
27.01x
ROE
23.9%
Revenue Growth
10.1%
EPS Growth
6.1%
Profit Margin
35.5%
FCF Yield
3.1%
Debt / Equity
0.01x
ROIC
16.0%
Interest Coverage
71.77x
Current Ratio
3.19x
Dividend Yield
—
Implied Growth (rev. DCF)
6.1%
Rating Score
67/100
Business Overview
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) is a large-cap company in the Biotechnology industry, part of the Health Care sector of the S&P 500, with a market value around $115.02B.
In its latest reported year it generated about $12.00B in revenue and $3.95B in net profit.
Our model rates VRTX Favorable (67/100) on growth, profitability, financial health, and valuation. The summary below is built from its filed financials and current ratios and refreshes automatically.
Economic Moat
Evidence of durable competitive advantage in the filed financials (10 years of history).
Profit margins and economic moats, explainedSome durable-advantage evidence, but not across the board — dig into which ingredient is weak and whether it's cyclical or structural.
23.8% average over the last 3 years
±17.8 pts around 25.8% across 10 years
grew in 9 of the last 9 year-over-year periods
positive in 9 of 10 years
16.0% latest fiscal year
A moat can't be proven by numbers alone — this scores the evidence a durable advantage leaves behind (pricing power, consistency, returns on capital), computed the same way for every stock. Pair it with the business overview before concluding anything.
Technical Analysis (Educational)
Technical analysis reads price and volume to judge momentum and timing. It complements the fundamentals above — it does not replace them. Here is what VRTX's chart says today, with each tool explained.
Trend — moving averages. A moving average is the average closing price over a window, which smooths out daily noise. VRTX trades near $499.34, above its 50-day average ($446.92) and 200-day average ($443.88). Price above both averages, with the shorter one above the longer, is the textbook definition of an uptrend — momentum favours buyers.
Momentum — RSI. The Relative Strength Index runs 0–100 and measures how strong recent gains are versus losses. Above 70 is "overbought", below 30 "oversold". At 90 it is overbought — the recent rally is stretched and can cool off.
MACD. MACD compares two moving averages to flag shifts in momentum. Its histogram is currently positive — short-term momentum is improving.
Volatility — ATR. Average True Range is the typical daily move. VRTX's is $14.21 (~2.8% of price), so swings of about that size each day are normal — handy for setting a stop that isn't too tight.
Support & resistance. In the month to Jul 6, 2026, VRTX found buyers near $433.50 (support) and sellers near $529.14 (resistance); its 52-week range then was $362.50–$529.14. A decisive break beyond either edge often marks the next move.
Volume. The latest session traded 1.0× the 20-day average — about normal. Rising volume on up-days suggests real buying; on down-days, real selling.
Educational information to help you read a chart — not a recommendation or a forecast. The indicators were last computed on Jul 6, 2026; the price is current.
Revenue Growth
4Y CAGR
12.2%
Revenue moved from $1.70B in 2016 to $12.00B in 2025, a 24.2% compound annual growth rate. The most recent year grew a steady 10.1% year over year. Consistent top-line growth is one sign of healthy demand.
Profitability
Gross Margin
86.2%
Operating Margin
34.8%
Net Margin
32.9%
ROE
23.9%
Vertex Pharmaceuticals keeps about 35.5% of each sales dollar as net profit, with a 86.2% gross margin and 34.8% operating margin. Return on equity is 23.9% and return on invested capital about 16.0%. Margins this wide usually signal pricing power or a cost advantage.
Debt Analysis
Total Debt
$105.00M
Net Debt
-$6.04B
Net cash position
Net Debt / EBITDA
-1.45x
Debt / Equity
0.01x
Leverage: debt-to-equity is 0.0x, and operating profit covers interest about 71.8x, with a current ratio of 3.2x. That is a conservative balance sheet — a cushion in downturns. It carries roughly $105.00M of total debt against $6.14B of cash.
Cash Flow Analysis
Operating CF
$3.63B
Free Cash Flow
$3.19B
FCF Margin
26.6%
In the latest year Vertex Pharmaceuticals produced about $3.63B of operating cash flow and $3.19B of free cash flow after capital spending. That is a free-cash-flow yield of about 3.1% on today's price. Cash flow is what ultimately pays shareholders, so it is worth tracking over time.
Valuation Analysis
P/E
28.66x
P/S
9.53x
P/B
6.7x
EV / EBITDA
—
VRTX trades at 28.7x trailing earnings (about 27.0x on estimated forward earnings), 9.5x sales, and 6.7x book value. Reverse-engineering today's price implies the market expects roughly 6.1% long-term free-cash-flow growth. That is a premium multiple that needs growth to justify it.
DCF Fair Value (Educational)
A two-stage discounted cash flow on real SEC-filed free cash flow — the intrinsic-value anchor professional analysts triangulate from.
How this DCF estimate is calculatedDCF fair value / share
$304.19
Current price
$499.34
Starting FCF (latest 10-K)
$3.19B
Growth, years 1–5
10.1%
Fade to terminal, years 6–10
2.5%
Discount rate
9.0%
Cash flows grow at the stage-1 rate (trailing revenue growth, capped at 20%) for five years, fade to 2.5% by year 10, and continue at that rate forever (Gordon terminal value), all discounted at 9.0%. Small changes in assumptions move the result a lot — treat this as one reference point, not a target price. Educational only, not investment advice.
Metrics vs. Sector Range
Where VRTX sits versus the Health Care companies we cover.
Bands show the middle half (25th–75th percentile) of the 83 Health Care companies in our coverage that have fundamentals data — the peer-relative anchor professional comps analysis uses. Context only — not investment advice.
Sector Peer Comparison
How VRTX stacks up against its Health Care peers — valuation, profitability, and growth versus the sector median.
Among the 83 rated Health Care companies we cover, VRTX ranks #14 by our overall rating. It trades at roughly in line versus the sector on earnings (28.7x P/E vs. 26.1x median) with a higher return on equity (23.9% vs. 14.1%) and faster revenue growth (10.1% vs. 7.6%).
P/E vs sector
28.7x
median 26.1x
ROE vs sector
23.9%
median 14.1%
Growth vs sector
10.1%
median 7.6%
Sector rank
#14
of 83 rated
Valuation vs. quality map
The sweet spot is upper-left: more profitable (higher ROE) for a lower P/E. Dashed lines mark the sector median.
Peers are the closest Health Care companies by sub-industry and size, preferring ones with full data. Sector medians and rank use the 83 rated companies among the 324 Health Care stocks we cover. Educational, not a recommendation.
5-Year Projection Model
Project revenue → earnings → price. Edit the assumptions to build your own case.
What drives this projection, and its limits2030 scenario price range (Base Case)
$470.75 – $803.04
vs. $499.34 today · implied CAGR -1% – 10%
| Metric | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $13.20B | $14.52B | $15.97B | $17.57B | $19.33B |
| Net income | $4.36B | $4.79B | $5.27B | $5.80B | $6.38B |
| EPS | $18.91 | $20.80 | $22.89 | $25.17 | $27.69 |
| Share price (low) | $321.53 | $353.68 | $389.05 | $427.95 | $470.75 |
| Share price (high) | $548.49 | $603.34 | $663.67 | $730.04 | $803.04 |
| CAGR (low–high) | -36% / 10% | -16% / 10% | -8% / 10% | -4% / 10% | -1% / 10% |
Educational scenario model, not a forecast or investment advice. It starts from the latest annual revenue in SEC filings. By default, growth is trailing revenue growth (held between 3% and 45% a year), the net margin is the latest one (held between 3% and 50%, so a loss-making company is modeled with a small profit), and the Base case P/E runs from 60% to 100% of today's. Carrying recent growth forward five years can miss badly in either direction. Outputs are only as good as the assumptions.
Bull Case
The case for VRTX:
- Revenue is growing 10.1% a year, a sign of real demand.
- High net margins (35.5%) point to pricing power or efficiency.
- Strong return on equity (23.9%) shows capital is put to work well.
- A conservative balance sheet (debt/equity 0.0x) lowers risk.
- Our model's overall read is Favorable (67/100).
Bear Case
The case against VRTX:
- Like any single stock, it is exposed to competition, the economic cycle, and shifts in its end markets.
Key Risks
Market risk — sector rotation, the economic cycle, and broad sentiment move the stock regardless of fundamentals.
Investment Thesis
On balance, the fundamentals screen favourably: Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a large-cap health care business still growing nicely, with solid profitability, and a sound balance sheet. It trades at 28.7x earnings, which our model scores Favorable (67/100). Weigh this against your own goals and time horizon — this is educational information, not a recommendation.
Analyst Ratings
What 36 Wall Street analysts covering VRTX recommend (September 2026). Consensus is a useful sanity check — not a substitute for your own homework.
Latest SEC Filings
VRTX's most recent filings, straight from SEC EDGAR. Annual and quarterly reports are the deep dives; 8-Ks flag material events the moment they happen. How to read a 10-K
In the Idea Lab
VRTX — frequently asked questions
Is VRTX a good stock to buy?
We don't give buy or sell advice. Our model rates Vertex Pharmaceuticals Favorable (67/100) based on its growth, profitability, financial health, and valuation — use that as a research starting point and make your own decision.
What is VRTX's rating on The Stocks School?
Vertex Pharmaceuticals currently scores 67/100 (Favorable) on our transparent model, which weighs real fundamentals: growth, margins, returns on capital, balance-sheet strength, and valuation.
How our ratings work →Where does VRTX's data come from?
Live price data plus real fundamentals and 5-year financials pulled directly from Vertex Pharmaceuticals's SEC filings — refreshed automatically, not hand-entered.
How is the 5-year projection for VRTX calculated?
It's a scenario model. It starts from the latest annual revenue and net margin in SEC filings, grows revenue at an assumed rate (trailing revenue growth by default), and applies a P/E range built around today's multiple to show the resulting share-price range. When a stock has no growth or P/E data, the starting values are placeholders. It's a tool for thinking, not a prediction.
Is this VRTX analysis financial advice?
No. Everything on this page is educational research, not financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell VRTX. Always do your own research and consider a licensed professional.
Data notice. Fundamentals and financial statements are sourced from company filings (SEC EDGAR) and market-data providers; prices and market caps refresh on trading days and may be delayed. Ratings, projections, technical signals, and written summaries are model- or rule-generated for education and may simplify or lag the latest filings.
Not advice. Nothing on this page is investment advice or a recommendation to buy, hold, or sell any security. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial professional before investing.