Ionis Pharmaceuticals
IONS on Nasdaq. Ionis Pharmaceuticals sells RNA medicines to patients with serious diseases. Market value $7.2bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Health care stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $-7.67 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Each dollar kept in the business earns -22 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 24 of 100. Price score: 0 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$44.00 a share, 3% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $42.63 to $86.74.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: a shortfall of $561 million in the past 12 months, a shortfall of $320 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $810m | $587m | $788m | $705m | $944m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -3.7% | -69.8% | -44.9% | -67.4% | -40.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | 2.08 | 3.38 | 2.13 | 3.71 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.14bn | 0.14bn | 0.16bn | 0.16bn | 0.17bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive1 of 5 years
- Accounting checksSkipped: company is not yet profitable
- Debt3.71× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 5.3% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 17% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| June 2024 | $225m |
| September 2024 | $134m |
| December 2024 | $227m |
| March 2025 | $132m |
| September 2025 | $157m |
| December 2025 | $203m |
| March 2026 | $246m |
| June 2026 | $268m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| June 2024 | -$66m |
| September 2024 | -$140m |
| December 2024 | -$104m |
| March 2025 | -$147m |
| September 2025 | -$129m |
| December 2025 | -$229m |
| March 2026 | -$93m |
| June 2026 | -$115m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 26 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 28 October 2026
Who owns it
3 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 3 last quarter. 513 funds in all.
- Tweedy, BrowneTweedy Browne partners
- Value
- $181m
- Share of fund
- 13.7%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tweedy, BrowneTweedy Browne partners | $181m | 13.7% | |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $10m | <0.1% | Added |
| Horizon KineticsMurray Stahl | $864,578 | <0.1% | Cut |
Largest holders overall
- FMR$2.0bn
- Capital World Investors$1.7bnAdded
- BlackRock$849mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$623m
- Wellington Management Group LLP$607mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$572m
- TWO Sigma Investments, LP$496mAdded
- Royal Bank of Canada$490mAdded
- State Street$344mAdded
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management$314mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- Capital World InvestorsPassive investor12.8%+1.7 ptsSince 31 March 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor5.7%Since 31 March 2025
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor5.0%Since 31 March 2026
- Wellington Management Group LLPPassive investorat least 4.3%(filed with 2 related holders)Since 30 June 2025
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Capital World Investors Passive investor | 12.8%+1.7 pts | 31 March 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 5.7% | 31 March 2025 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 5.0% | 31 March 2026 | |
Wellington Management Group LLP Passive investor | at least 4.3% (filed with 2 related holders) | 30 June 2025 | |
T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $1m of shares on the open market. 19 sold $130m, $107m of it under preset trading plans.
- Hayden Michael RDirectorBought
- Date
- 31 July 2026
- Shares
- 5,000
- Price
- $51.60
- Value
- $258,000
- Hayden Michael RDirectorBought
- Date
- 30 July 2026
- Shares
- 15,000
- Price
- $53.38
- Value
- $800,700
- BENNETT C FRANKEVP, Chief Scientific OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 7 July 2026
- Shares
- 20,536
- Price
- $84.95
- Value
- $2m
- Diaz Allene M.DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 7 July 2026
- Shares
- 10,111
- Price
- $85.42
- Value
- $863,637
- Kordasiewicz Holly B.EVP, Chief Development OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 7 July 2026
- Shares
- 362
- Price
- $84.30
- Value
- $30,517
- KLEIN JOSEPH IIIDirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 1 July 2026
- Shares
- 11,518
- Price
- $79.04
- Value
- $910,416
- Baroldi JosephEVP, Chief Business OfficerSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 5,635
- Price
- $80.16
- Value
- $451,702
- O'NEIL PATRICK R.EVP CLO & General CounselSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 3,069
- Price
- $80.00
- Value
- $245,520
- Schneider EugeneEVP, Chf Clinical Develop OfcrSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 26,000
- Price
- $81.05
- Value
- $2m
- Monia Brett PChief Executive Officer, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 50,000
- Price
- $80.59
- Value
- $4m
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 July 2026 | Hayden Michael R Director | Bought | 5,000 | $51.60 | $258,000 |
| 30 July 2026 | Hayden Michael R Director | Bought | 15,000 | $53.38 | $800,700 |
| 7 July 2026 | BENNETT C FRANK EVP, Chief Scientific Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 20,536 | $84.95 | $2m |
| 7 July 2026 | Diaz Allene M. Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 10,111 | $85.42 | $863,637 |
| 7 July 2026 | Kordasiewicz Holly B. EVP, Chief Development Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 362 | $84.30 | $30,517 |
| 1 July 2026 | KLEIN JOSEPH III Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 11,518 | $79.04 | $910,416 |
| 26 June 2026 | Baroldi Joseph EVP, Chief Business Officer | Sold under a preset trading plan | 5,635 | $80.16 | $451,702 |
| 26 June 2026 | O'NEIL PATRICK R. EVP CLO & General Counsel | Sold under a preset trading plan | 3,069 | $80.00 | $245,520 |
| 26 June 2026 | Schneider Eugene EVP, Chf Clinical Develop Ofcr | Sold under a preset trading plan | 26,000 | $81.05 | $2m |
| 26 June 2026 | Monia Brett P Chief Executive Officer, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 50,000 | $80.59 | $4m |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 26 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 29 Jul 2026 and 13 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 3.7× its equity.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.