I've been a big fan of Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), and the biotech stock has made me a lot of money throughout the years. Vertex continues to enjoy a virtual monopoly in treating cystic fibrosis (CF) but it's advancing multiple promising programs in its pipeline.

However, investors who watch valuation metrics closely might have noticed something concerning about Vertex: Its shares trade at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of over 11x. Is Vertex stock too expensive right now?

Let's acknowledge right out of the gate that a P/S multiple of more than 11x is usually viewed as sky-high. For example, the S 500 currently trades at only 2.72x sales. However, it's not a great approach to compare the valuations of biopharmaceutical stocks with those of other industries because the dynamics shaping their respective markets are very different.

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Source Fool.com