LGND · Intrinsic value
Is Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) overvalued or undervalued?
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) trades at the delayed market price of $300.05 a share. That price already implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. TickerWorth's fair value is $120.29 a share (149% above fair value), as of Oct 19, 2026. It is a model estimate, and every input behind it is sourced below.
Model by Miraaj Patel · generated from SEC filings and market data · Updated Oct 19, 2026 · How these pages are made
Is LGND overvalued?
- Fair value
- $120.29
- Market price
- $300.05
- Downside to fair value
- 59.9%
- Verdict
- 149% above fair value
Reverse DCF, on our cash-flow model rather than the fair value above: Today's price implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. Above about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative. It solves for revenue growth alone — holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed — so a price well above our cash-flow model's value has nowhere to go but growth, and the solver returns a rate the model can't reconcile. Read it as "the price implies growth we can't justify", not as a forecast.
What is LGND's TickerWorth Score?
Middle of the pack — real strengths and real weaknesses
Compared with Healthcare companies in US
Its strongest point: a profitable, high-quality business. Its weakest: trades above our estimate of what it's worth.
- Value · 29 of 100
Cheaper than 29% of Healthcare companies in US
- Price vs worth · 2 of 100
- Quality · 81 of 100
More profitable than 81% of Healthcare companies in US
- Financial health · 67 of 100
Financially stronger than 67% of Healthcare companies in US
- Growth · 68 of 100
Growing faster than 68% of Healthcare companies in US
- Momentum · 86 of 100
Outperformed 86% of Healthcare companies in US over the past year
Confidence: Medium confidence · Scored
Get the Undervalued Company of the Week.
LGND DCF valuation: what the price assumes
At a recent price of $300.05, Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) trades 149% above TickerWorth's blended fair value of $120.29 per share. For this company that blend leans on peer multiples: our discounted-cash-flow model holds margins flat and fades growth toward a long-run rate, which systematically understates a business growing this fast, so its figure (about $55.95) is shown as a reference beside the range rather than blended into it. Our estimate sits below the market — read that as a statement about how the market prices LGND against comparable companies, not as a finding that it is overvalued on cash flow. This is an educational model, not a price target or a recommendation.
Read the full reasoning
The valuation discounts Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated's projected free cash flows at a weighted-average cost of capital (WACC) of 8.7%, with a long-run terminal growth rate of 2.5%. About 77% of the enterprise value comes from the terminal value — the portion beyond the explicit forecast window — which is typical for a stable, cash-generative business and a reminder that small changes in the discount rate or terminal growth assumption swing the intrinsic value meaningfully.
Running the DCF in reverse — solving for the growth the current price already assumes — LGND would need sustained revenue growth of more than 25%/yr to justify today's price, against about 16.6% a year compounded in our base case. We don't quote a precise figure here, because past about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative: it solves for revenue growth alone, holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed, so a price well above our fair value has nowhere to go but growth. The honest reading is that the price implies growth this model can't reconcile — not that we forecast it.
Sensitivity matters more than any single number. Across a reasonable band of discount-rate assumptions, LGND's modeled DCF value ranges from about $42.64 to $87.15 per share. If that range still sits below today's price, the market is optimistic relative to the model across the whole band; if it brackets the price, the stock is roughly fairly valued on our assumptions. Use the interactive slider to see exactly where your own cost-of-capital view lands.
How to read this page: the DCF fair value is what Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated would be worth if its cash flows grow as modeled and are discounted at the stated WACC. The assumptions table shows every input and its source; the reverse-DCF shows what the market believes; the sensitivity band shows how fragile the answer is. None of this is investment advice — it is a transparent, auditable framework for forming your own view of LGND's intrinsic value. Figures update as new filings and prices come in.
Every input behind LGND's DCF
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Base-year revenueLIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INCORPORATED FY2025 10-K (accession 0000886163-26-000006): us-gaap:RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax, FY2025 full year. | $268,090,000 |
| Base EBIT marginLIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INCORPORATED FY2025 10-K (accession 0000886163-26-000006): us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss 41,002,000 / revenue 268,087,000 = 15.29%, FY2025. | 15.3% |
| Forecast revenue growthESTIMATEAssumption — TickerWorth's 5-year explicit forecast | 30% → 24% → 17% → 10% → 4% |
| Risk-free rateLive feed — US 10-year Treasury yield (^TNX) | 4.7% |
| BetaLive feed — yfinance, 5-year monthly beta vs the S&P 500 (clamped to 0.4–2.5) | 0.98 |
| Terminal growthESTIMATEAssumption — TickerWorth house default 2.5%, held below WACC | 2.5% |
| Diluted sharesLIGAND PHARMACEUTICALS INCORPORATED FY2025 10-K (accession 0000886163-26-000006): WeightedAverageNumberOfDilutedSharesOutstanding = 20,294,000 shares, FY2025. | 20M |
| Market priceLast known price · as of 2026-10-19 17:45 UTC | $300.05 |
Change LGND's assumptions
The discount-rate dial and the editable model
ProChange growth, margin and WACC yourself — Pro (7-day free trial, card required).
What does Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated do?
What does it do?
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and licenses biopharmaceutical assets worldwide. It offers Pradefovir, Posaconazole, Voriconazole, CAPVAXIVE, NOXAFIL, MenFive, and ZELSUVMI for infectious disease; EVOMELA and KYPROLIS for multiple myeloma; FILSPARI for the treatment of immunoglobulin a nephropathy; PNEUMOSIL, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia in children; and QARZIBA to treat neuroblastoma. It operates in the Biotechnology industry (Healthcare sector), headquartered in United States. The company employs roughly 47 people.
How does it make money?
The business turns $268M in annual revenue into profit. Out of every $100 of sales, about $13 is left as operating profit (operating margin of 13.5%), after a 81% gross margin on the products/services it sells. After all costs, taxes and interest, 67.9% of revenue becomes bottom-line net profit.
Is it financially healthy?
Financially it looks solid: carries moderate debt (1.2× equity), comfortably covers its short-term bills (31.2× current ratio), and is currently profitable.
LGND insider trading
We have no recent SEC Form 4 insider filings on file for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. Form 4 covers US-listed companies only.
Common questions
What is LGND's intrinsic value?
TickerWorth's blended fair value for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) is $120.29 per share, versus a market price of $300.05 (149% above fair value).
Is LGND overvalued or undervalued?
Our cash-flow model understates a business growing this fast, so we don't call LGND overvalued on it. Against a blend that leans on peer multiples, the price of $300.05 sits 149% above our estimate. This is an educational estimate, not advice.
What discount rate is used for LGND?
A WACC of 8.7% and a terminal growth rate of 2.5%.
Is Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock undervalued?
TickerWorth's fair value for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) is $120.29 against a market price of $300.05. Our read: 149% above fair value. This is a model estimate, not investment advice.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) DCF valuation and fair value
Our fair value for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND) is $120.29, built on a 8.7% discount rate (WACC) and 2.5% terminal growth. It blends our discounted-cash-flow model with other valuation lenses. Every assumption is listed on this page with its source.
What growth is priced into Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock?
Today's price implies revenue growth of more than 25%/yr. Above about 25% a year the reverse-DCF stops being informative. It solves for revenue growth alone — holding margins, capital intensity and the forecast horizon fixed — so a price well above our cash-flow model's value has nowhere to go but growth, and the solver returns a rate the model can't reconcile. Read it as "the price implies growth we can't justify", not as a forecast. This is a reverse DCF: it holds our cash-flow model's other inputs and solves for the revenue growth that makes the model equal today's price of $300.05. A model estimate, not investment advice.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) insider trading
We have no recent SEC Form 4 insider filings on file for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (LGND). Form 4 covers US-listed companies only.
Stocks below our fair value instead
Not investment advice. TickerWorth Score is a model output.
Educational tool. Every output reflects the assumptions shown — not a prediction and not investment advice. TickerWorth is not a licensed investment adviser, and these figures are estimates from public filings and market data that can be wrong.