RXRX vs SDGR: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
RXRX (Recursion Pharmaceuticals) and SDGR (Schrödinger) share investment themes but are different businesses. The right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme.
RXRX vs SDGR: the tie-breaker metrics
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.
| Metric | RXRX | SDGR | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $1.86B | $1.69B | Size. The larger name is the incumbent; the smaller has more room to grow and more to prove. |
| Forward P/E | -3.84 | -16.74 | Valuation on next year's expected earnings, the same yardstick for both. Lower is cheaper for that growth; higher means the market is paying up. |
| Beta | 1.03 | 1.62 | Volatility vs the market. Above 1 swings harder than the index; below 1 is steadier. Higher beta means bigger drawdowns to hold through. |
| Price vs 52-week range | 16% of range | 51% of range | Where today's price sits between the 52-week low and high. Near the high is momentum with less margin of safety; near the low is out of favor or a discount, depending on why. |
| Price / book | 2.03 | 5.01 | How much you pay over book value. Very high can signal an asset-light, high-return business or a rich price. |
Before you buy: how RXRX and SDGR affect your concentration
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. RXRX and SDGR 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 RXRX and SDGR 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.
What does Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) do?
Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a Salt Lake City-based, clinical-stage technology-enabled biopharmaceutical company that aims to industrialize drug discovery. Its platform combines automated wet-lab biology, high-throughput cellular imaging that generates petabytes of proprietary experimental data, and machine-learning models that map relationships between genes, compounds, and disease, layered with Exscientia's automated precision molecular design. Recursion intends to make money three ways: partnership and collaboration payments (upfront fees, research funding, and milestone payments from large pharma companies that use its platform), future royalties on any partnered drugs that reach market, and value from its own wholly owned pipeline of clinical candidates. Today the company is pre-revenue in the product sense: reported revenue is small (roughly $6.5 million in Q1 2026 and $7.7 million in Q2 2026) and comes mostly from partnerships rather than drug sales.
What does Schrödinger (SDGR) do?
Schrödinger, Inc. has been building molecular simulation software since 1990, and its core products (Maestro, Glide, FEP+) predict how a candidate molecule will bind to a protein target before anyone synthesises it. Pharmaceutical and materials science customers license the platform, which produced ~$32.5 million of software revenue in the June 2026 quarter. The company also runs a second business that most software vendors do not: it uses its own platform to design drugs, then monetises them through collaborations, spin-outs and equity stakes rather than selling them itself. Eli Lilly's acquisition of Ajax Therapeutics, a company Schrödinger co-founded, for up to ~$2.3 billion produced a ~$45.9 million mark-up on Schrödinger's holding plus a ~$10 million milestone in Q2 2026. In September 2026 the same playbook repeated with Tectora Therapeutics, formed alongside New Enterprise Associates and RA Capital with a ~$55 million Series A, into which Schrödinger contributed two early-stage immunology programs for equity, milestones and royalties.
RXRX vs SDGR: how do they differ?
Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.
- RXRX drivers: An industrial-scale AI platform and proprietary data moat; A deep big-pharma partnership book.
- SDGR drivers: Bunsen and the agentic AI product cycle; The hosted licensing transition and annual contract value.
Which fits which kind of investor
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 central risk is that Recursion has no approved drug and remains deeply unprofitable, posting a net loss of roughly $131 million in Q2 2026 against only about $7.7 million of revenue, and about $519 million over the trailing twelve months, so the entire valuation rests on platform promise rather than proven output. For SDGR, the core software business is decelerating at precisely the moment the stock is being repriced for acceleration, and net dollar retention of ~100% means the installed base is no longer expanding on its own.
RXRX or SDGR: which should you pick?
RXRX vs SDGR: the full fundamentals
RXRX. Because Recursion is pre-profit with minimal revenue, traditional earnings multiples do not apply, and the figures that matter most are cash on hand, the rate of cash burn, and how long the runway lasts before the company must raise money again. The October 2026 offering pushed the stated runway into 2029 at the cost of about 61.5 million new shares, while REC-4881 data and the Sanofi option added evidence on the pipeline side. Valuation is still a bet on future platform output and partnership milestones rather than on current financial performance, and Q3 2026 results are expected around November 4.
SDGR. Full-year 2025 revenue was ~$256 million, up ~23%, so the trailing-twelve-month figure of roughly ~$259 million represents near-flat growth over the last four quarters even as ACV climbed. GAAP profitability is not a useful signal here: quarterly net income swung from a ~$60.0 million loss in Q1 2026 to a ~$6.0 million profit in Q2 depending on how the equity stakes are marked, while adjusted EBITDA ran at about negative $114.9 million for 2025. At $23.26 on October 16, 2026, backing out net cash leaves roughly ~$1.4 billion of enterprise value, which the market is applying to a software franchise that generated ~$200 million in 2025 and shrank last quarter. Third-quarter results are expected around November 4, 2026.
Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): RXRX shows revenue (q2 2026) ~$7.7 million (TTM ~$55 million, mostly partnership and milestone revenue), net loss (q2 2026) ~$131 million (TTM ~$519 million); EPS -$0.25 vs -$0.23 expected, cash ~$561 million on September 30, 2026 (preliminary), before ~$200 million of offering proceeds, stated cash runway Into 2029, including net proceeds of the October 2026 offering; SDGR shows revenue (ttm) ~$259 million, q2 2026 revenue ~$58.9 million, up ~8% year over year, software revenue (q2 2026) ~$32.5 million, down ~10%, net income (ttm) ~-$54 million; Q2 2026 adjusted EPS -$0.42 vs -$0.67 expected.
The bottom line: RXRX vs SDGR
RXRX and SDGR 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 RXRX and SDGR exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.
Wondering how RXRX or SDGR fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Recursion Pharmaceuticals with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how RXRX fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is the difference between RXRX and SDGR?
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Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a Salt Lake City-based, clinical-stage technology-enabled biopharmaceutical company that aims to industrialize drug discovery. Schrödinger, Inc. They show up together because they share investment themes, but they are different businesses, so the better fit depends on which thesis you are expressing.
Is RXRX or SDGR the better stock?
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Neither is universally better; they suit different views and risk levels. Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Compare what each does, the tie-breaker metrics above, and the risks, then decide which fits your thesis and what you already own.
Which is cheaper, RXRX or SDGR?
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On forward P/E (as of October 2026), RXRX trades at -3.84x and SDGR at -16.74x, so SDGR is the cheaper of the two on next year's expected earnings. A lower multiple is not automatically the better buy: a richer valuation can be justified by faster growth, and a lower one can reflect real risk. Weigh the multiple against how fast each business is compounding.
Should you own both RXRX and SDGR?
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Because they share themes, owning both concentrates you in that theme. That can be intentional (a focused bet) or accidental (less diversification than it looks). Walnut can show your combined exposure across both, and whether adding either over-concentrates you, before you buy.
What are the risks of RXRX vs SDGR?
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RXRX: The central risk is that Recursion has no approved drug and remains deeply unprofitable, posting a net loss of roughly $131 million in Q2 2026 against only about $7.7 million of revenue, and about $519 million over the trailing twelve months, so the entire valuation rests on platform promise rather than proven output. AI-driven drug discovery as a category is still unproven at the finish line, and skeptics note that no AI-originated compound has yet delivered a blockbuster approval, leaving open the possibility that the platform advantage does not translate into clinical success. Early data such as the REC-4881 and REC-1245 results come from small, open-label studies, and Recursion's candidates could still fail in larger trials like most clinical-stage biotech assets do; even partnered programs depend on decisions outside Recursion's control. Dilution is not hypothetical: the October 2026 offering added about 61.5 million shares at $3.25, and although the company now guides to a cash runway into 2029, continued losses mean it may need to raise capital again. The stock has also been volatile, down about 42% over the past year and trading well below its 52-week high of about $7.18. SDGR: The core software business is decelerating at precisely the moment the stock is being repriced for acceleration, and net dollar retention of ~100% means the installed base is no longer expanding on its own. General-purpose AI models and cheaper machine-learning tooling create genuine pricing pressure on specialised computational chemistry licences, a risk management has not quantified. On the therapeutics side, the pipeline shrank to two clinical assets after the SGR-2921 deaths, and both survivors now depend on finding a partner, which removes a large piece of the optionality investors once paid for. Drug discovery revenue is milestone-driven and can fall sharply in any quarter where nothing triggers, while equity-stake gains are non-cash until an acquirer appears. Even after a 19.8% drop in the month to October 16, 2026, the shares trade at roughly ~5.5x trailing revenue on an enterprise value basis and more than double their March low, so a single guidance cut or a lost large customer could unwind a meaningful share of the remaining move. Consensus for the third quarter calls for revenue of only ~$47.6 million, below the ~$58.9 million reported in Q2, so a quiet quarter for milestones is already in estimates.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. This page is descriptive and not a recommendation to buy or sell RXRX or SDGR; figures are approximate and dated (as of October 2026). Verify current data before investing.