PD vs SMMT: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. PD and SMMT share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined PD and SMMT exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

PagerDuty sells the software that wakes engineers up. When a payment system, a checkout flow or an internal API breaks, PagerDuty ingests the alert from monitoring tools, decides who is on call, escalates until a human acknowledges it, and coordinates the response through to a postmortem. Around that core it has added runbook automation (from its 2020 Rundeck purchase), an AIOps layer that groups noisy alerts into single incidents, customer service operations tooling, and more recently a set of agentic features including an autonomous site-reliability agent and automated shift management. Roughly 15,500 paying customers use it, of which about 884 spend more than ~$100,000 a year, and annual recurring revenue sits near ~$501 million.

Full PD guide

Summit Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused almost entirely on ivonescimab, a first-in-class tetravalent bispecific antibody that targets both PD-1 and VEGF simultaneously. Summit in-licensed ivonescimab from China's Akeso in January 2023 and holds rights to develop and commercialize it across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan, while Akeso keeps China and certain other regions. The lead opportunity is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), where Phase III data have shown ivonescimab extending progression-free survival versus Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab), plus additional programs in colorectal and other cancers. The company generates no meaningful product revenue yet and funds operations from its cash balance while running large global trials.

Full SMMT guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• PD drivers: Margin and cash generation from a flat revenue base; A new chief executive and a go-to-market reset.
• SMMT drivers: Ivonescimab FDA review and first approval; Head-to-head data versus Keytruda.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The core problem is demand, not costs: dollar-based net retention of ~98% means the existing customer base is shrinking slightly net of expansion, so new logos are doing the work of holding revenue flat. For SMMT, summit is a pre-revenue, single-asset biotech, so its outcome depends overwhelmingly on ivonescimab; a failed trial, a negative or delayed FDA decision, or unexpected safety findings could sharply reduce the company's value.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick PD if you believe its drivers more; SMMT if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the PD and SMMT guides.

PD. Two numbers explain most of the debate around PD. Revenue growth under 1% with retention below 100% is what keeps the multiple near ~2x sales, while a ~23.7% non-GAAP operating margin, real free cash flow and a cash pile worth roughly half the market cap are what keeps the floor where it is. Guidance for the rest of fiscal 2027 implies more of the same, with quarterly revenue held around ~$123 million to ~$125 million and profitability doing the improving.

SMMT. As a clinical-stage biotech with no meaningful product sales, Summit cannot be valued on earnings or a P/E ratio; its roughly $12 billion market value (July 2026) reflects expectations for ivonescimab rather than current financials. Standard metrics like revenue and profit are near zero, so investors weigh trial data, the market size of NSCLC, and cash runway instead. Valuation is therefore speculative and can move dramatically on a single readout or regulatory event.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): PD shows revenue (ttm) ~$494 million, q2 fy2027 revenue (quarter ended july 31, 2026) ~$124.4 million, up ~0.8% year over year, annual recurring revenue / net retention ~$501 million ARR, dollar-based net retention ~98%, profitability GAAP operating income ~$10.2 million (~8.2% margin); non-GAAP operating margin ~23.7%; non-GAAP diluted EPS ~$0.32; SMMT shows product revenue (ttm) ~$0 (pre-commercial), cash & short-term investments (q1 2026) ~$598.7 million, quarterly operating cash burn (q1 2026) ~$122.3 million, market cap ~$12 billion.

PD and SMMT are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined PD and SMMT exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.