What pharmaceutical companies are worth
11 listed pharmaceutical companies, compared on the measures that survive a look at the balance sheet. Every figure is built from filed accounts.
Where the sector trades
The median pharmaceutical companie trades on 26.1× EBITDA, across the 5 of 11 companies where EBITDA could be computed from filings. Median operating margin is 23.8%.
| Measure | Sector median | Companies measured |
|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA* | 26.1× | 5 of 11 |
| EV / Sales* | 6.0× | 11 of 11 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.8× | 6 of 11 |
| Return on capital | 14.0% | 6 of 11 |
| Operating margin | 23.8% | 6 of 11 |
| Free cash flow margin | 21.6% | 10 of 11 |
All pharmaceutical companies we cover
| Company | EV / EBITDA | EV / Sales | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABBVAbbVie Inc. | 31.8× | 8.2× | 24.6% | 29.1% | 23.2% |
| ABTABBOTT LABORATORIES | 22.2× | 4.7× | 18.2% | 16.7% | 9.4% |
| BMYBRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO | — | 3.5× | — | 26.7% | — |
| JNJJOHNSON & JOHNSON | 26.1× | 7.1× | 22.9% | 15.9% | 17.4% |
| LLYELI LILLY & Co | — | 17.0× | — | — | — |
| MRKMerck & Co., Inc. | — | 6.4× | — | 19.0% | — |
| PFEPFIZER INC | — | 3.5× | — | 14.5% | — |
| REGNREGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. | 21.0× | 6.0× | 24.9% | 28.4% | 10.6% |
| VRTXVERTEX PHARMACEUTICALS INC / MA | 29.0× | 10.6× | 34.8% | 26.6% | 20.5% |
| VTRSViatris Inc | — | 2.2× | −18.7% | 13.6% | −9.6% |
| ZTSZoetis Inc. | — | 4.0× | — | 24.1% | — |
* EV/EBITDA and EV/Sales move with share prices; these are a snapshot taken 2026-09-09. Margins and return on capital come from filed accounts and hold until the next reporting season. A dash means the measure could not be computed — most often because EBITDA was negative, or because enterprise value is not a meaningful concept for the company. Each company page says which.
Head to head
14 pairs from this sector compared side by side, with the sector median beside them.
How to read these
EV/EBITDA compares the whole cost of the business — equity plus debt, less cash — to its operating cash earnings. It is the multiple an acquirer thinks in, and unlike a P/E it is not distorted by how much debt a company carries.
Operating and free cash flow margins need no share price at all, so they are the fairest way to compare companies within a sector on the same day. A wide gap between the two usually means heavy capital spending.
Return on capital is operating income over debt plus equity. It says how much the business earns on the money tied up in it, which is a different question from whether the shares are cheap.
None of these is a recommendation, and a low multiple is not the same thing as a bargain — see the disclaimer. The company pages show the arithmetic and link to the filing behind every term.