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, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Ohtuvayre for respiratory disease; PNEUMOSIL, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia in …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.94), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Cost Leadership PositionOperating margin at 90.9th percentile with strong OpEx control demonstrates cost leadership.
The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks
against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.
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Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor ranks #22 of 713
scored companies in Biotechnology by moat score — the top 3%.
The widest moat in the group is Royalty Pharma plc (RPRX)
at 85/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near LGND in Biotechnology
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 89
· 15% of the moat score
A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.
Customer Stickiness
Score 87
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 65
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 75
· 17% of the moat score
Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.
Scale & Market Position
Score 62
· 15% of the moat score
Scale matters only when it converts into economics.
What is Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor's moat score?
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor (LGND) scores 76 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #22 of 713 scored companies in Biotechnology, the top 3%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 712 companies in Biotechnology. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (89/100) and its weakest is Scale & Market Position (62/100).
How does Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor compare with other Biotechnology companies?
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor ranks #22 of 713 scored companies in Biotechnology by moat score. The widest moat in Biotechnology is Royalty Pharma plc (RPRX) at 85/100. The companies ranked closest are ADMA Biologics Inc (ADMA) at 77 just above it and MiMedx Group, Inc (MDXG) at 76 just below it.
How is the moat score calculated?
Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 712 companies in Biotechnology. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.
Why is Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor scored with the Corporate Default template?
Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.
Which competitive defenses are measured for Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorpor?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and LGND scores: Pricing Power (82), Cost Advantage (89), Customer Stickiness (87), Capital Efficiency (65), Resilience (75), Scale & Market Position (62). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.
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