Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) vs Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) — DCF Intrinsic Value Compared

This page compares TickerWorth's fair-value estimate for Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) side by side — a discounted-cash-flow (DCF) model cross-checked against peer multiples and asset value. On our fair-value estimate, GILD looks the more undervalued of the two — it trades about +11.4% from its fair value, versus -32.0% for VRTX. These are model estimates — educational, not price targets or recommendations, and the model can be wrong. The point of a head-to-head is less the exact numbers than the questions they raise: which business the market is pricing more optimistically, and whether that optimism is justified by the growth each would need to deliver.

GILD trades at $149.61 against a fair value of $166.72 (11% below fair value), while VRTX trades at $556.75 against a fair value of $378.86 (32% above fair value). A larger gap below fair value means the market is more skeptical of that business's future cash flows than our model is.

The assumptions differ under the hood. GILD is discounted at a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) of 6.4% with a terminal growth rate of 2.5%; VRTX at a WACC of 6.6% and terminal growth of 2.5%. A higher discount rate lowers today's value of future cash flows, so a cheaper-looking multiple can simply reflect higher perceived risk. When two companies screen differently on our DCF, the discount rate and the growth path are usually where the disagreement lives.

How to use this comparison: treat each fair value as what the business would be worth on our lenses — the DCF lens is what the business is worth if its cash flows grow as modeled and are discounted at the stated WACC. Open either company's full page to see every assumption and its source, run the reverse-DCF to see the growth the current price already implies, and drag the WACC slider to test how fragile each answer is. None of this is investment advice — it is a transparent, auditable way to frame GILD versus VRTX on intrinsic value.