What happened
While the broader markets took a historic beating during the month of March, shares of the biotech heavyweight Amgen (AMGN -1.33%) actually gained a modest 1.5% last month, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
To put the biotech's monthly performance into the proper context, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the S&P 500 all lost more than 10% of their value in March. Amgen, in fact, was one of the only blue chip stocks to exit March in positive territory.
So what
Amgen's stock was likely immune to the COVID-19-induced sell-off over the course of March for three core reasons:
- Over the first two months of the year, Amgen's stock had already lost a jaw-dropping 17.1% of its value, which essentially erased a full year's worth of gains and transformed the company into a strong value play.
- Early on in March, Amgen announced that it didn't anticipate any major disruptions to its global supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, shareholders shouldn't fret about potential shortages of top-selling drugs.
- With an annualized dividend yield of 3.16% and a resilient revenue stream, Amgen was probably a top pick by investors on the hunt for a safe haven during last month's marketwide downturn.
Now what
As the COVID-19 pandemic isn't expected to peter out for at least another two full months, investors will definitely want to rotate into high-quality companies that pay a solid dividend and that can still earn money in this unprecedented environment. Amgen, for its part, ticks off both of these all-important boxes. As such, investors can probably expect a repeat performance from this blue chip biotech stock in April and beyond.