These longtime leading biotech stocks still have plenty of upside ahead.
October typically isn’t a time investors look forward to in the markets. It has historically been associated with equities moving in the wrong direction, and sometimes experiencing full-blown market crashes. The broader market has performed pretty well so far this year, but could that come to a halt in October? Maybe.
No matter what happens, investing in companies that will get through bear markets and perform well over the long run is always a good idea. Let’s consider two such stocks in the biotech industry: Amgen (AMGN 0.21%) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX 0.34%).
1. Amgen
While it might not look like it initially, Amgen has had trouble with top-line growth in recent years. In the second quarter, the company’s revenue — helped by the October acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics — increased by 20% year over year to $8.4 billion. Amgen’s sales increased by 5% organically, not terrible for a biotech giant, but not particularly impressive either. The good news is that it’s making moves to improve on that front.
Consider the company’s treatment for thyroid eye disease (TED), Tepezza, which it got through its acquisition of Horizon. Tepezza remains the only treatment for TED approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Yet the medication was underperforming, according to management. Amgen has the funds and the footprints in the industry to push stronger marketing efforts and to seek approval in many countries worldwide, which it has been doing; it recently announced that Tepezza was approved in Japan.
The company isn’t just banking on acquisitions, though — it’s developing several exciting medicines. Perhaps the promising is MariTide, a potential GLP-1 weight loss medicine. This is currently the hottest area in the biotech industry. Amgen might have one of the better candidates in the sea of GLP-1 drugs in development: MariTide recently performed well in phase 2 studies. The research company Evaluate Pharma estimates it could generate $2.1 billion in sales by 2030.
Amgen’s pipeline features a few dozen programs. So expect regular brand-new approvals or label expansions that will help move the needle in the right direction, as far as its financial results are concerned.
Furthermore, the biotech is a top dividend stock. In the past decade, Amgen has raised its payouts by 269%. Amgen’s forward yield is currently around 2.8%, compared to the S&P 500‘s average of 1.3%.
Amgen might or might not succumb to the October effect, but the company is poised to deliver solid returns to patient investors. That’s why it’s worth buying its shares this month.
2. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is firing on all cylinders. The biotech still holds a monopoly in the market for treating cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare disease that damages patients’ internal organs.
Sales of its CF products keep moving in the right direction. In the second quarter, revenue increased by 6% year over year to $2.65 billion. And Vertex’s top line will start growing faster soon; the company is awaiting approval of a newer, better CF therapy.
That’s not to mention Casgevy, a gene-editing treatment for a pair of blood-related diseases, which earned the green light last year in various countries. Administering gene-editing therapies is a long and complicated process, so Casgevy isn’t making a dent in Vertex’s results yet. But the therapy, which Vertex developed in collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics, unquestionably boasts blockbuster potential.
Vertex also submitted an application to the FDA for a potential medicine for acute pain, suzetrigine, earlier this year. Although there are pain treatments on the market, many, such as opioids, can have severe side effects; suzetrigine could fill an unmet need.
Vertex’s modus operandi is to develop medicines in areas with room for improvement or, in some cases, where there are no therapy options. Vertex’s pipeline has several candidates along those lines. Inaxaplin is a potential therapy for APOL-1-mediated kidney disease; there are no approved treatments that treat the underlying causes of this condition. The company is also developing a potential functional cure for type 1 diabetes, something that doesn’t yet exist.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ long track record of success, innovative abilities, and rich pipeline should allow it to perform well over the long run. Biotech investors can safely add shares of this company to their portfolios this month.
Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Amgen. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
