Investing in quality healthcare stocks can be a fantastic way to expand your portfolio returns over time with steady-growth companies that generally face less cyclicality than those in other industries. Whether you're a seasoned healthcare investor or are just getting started in this space, there's no shortage of companies to choose from today.
Here are two no-brainer healthcare stocks you may want to consider adding to your portfolio in the near future.
1. Intuitive Surgical
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -1.16%) is a leading developer and manufacturer of surgical robotics systems. Currently, the company controls an incredible 80% of the global surgical robotics market, an industry on track to be worth just shy of $100 billion by the year 2024.
Why is there such demand for robotic surgical systems? Well, for one, these systems can be used in a wide range of procedures, from gynecological to cardiac surgeries. Among a range of benefits, the use of surgical robotics to perform a procedure can enable the patient to not only recover more quickly, but also experience less discomfort, and it can even mitigate the potential for a post-surgery infection.
Intuitive Surgical's flagship product is its da Vinci Surgical System. It also sells another surgical robotic system called the Ion, which is used for minimally invasive lung biopsies. The company's razor-and-blade business model -- which means it makes money both on upfront sales of its systems (a single da Vinci Surgical System costs upward of $2 million), and from the products and services that accompany these systems -- continues to be an incredible sticky one that bodes well for the company's long-term growth prospects.
Global delays in procedure volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted Intuitive Surgical's financial results in recent quarters, but the company is proving its ability to recover quickly from these headwinds. The stock skyrocketed on Oct. 19 after the company reported its third-quarter earnings.
Not only did the company beat Wall Street's expectations on both the top and bottom lines, but it also reported that its installed base of da Vinci systems and da Vinci procedures rose 13% and 20%, respectively, in the quarter from the year-ago period. Its overall revenue jumped 11% to $1.6 billion, while net income fell 16% to $324 million -- a smaller-than-expected drop. The company also closed the quarter with a nice stash of cash on hand -- $7.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and investments in total.
Bear in mind this follows annual revenue and net income growth of 31% and 61%, respectively, over the last two years alone. While the stock is still trading down 40% from the beginning of the year, in line with many of the broader headwinds affecting the market at large, its core business remains robust. Now could be an excellent time to consider a long-term investment in this healthcare giant.
2. Bristol Myers Squibb
Pharmaceutical stocks may not always seem like the most exciting place to invest your money, but there are several very good reasons to consider adding a few of the top companies trading in this space to your portfolio.
Take Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY -0.87%). Not only is the company one of the largest pharmaceutical entities in the world, but the products it sells are essential to the health and well-being of millions globally at any given time, regardless of what is happening in the economy, much less with the stock market.
Bristol Myers Squibb's products span disease areas ranging from cancer to diabetes to cardiovascular disorders. Three of its top-selling products -- Eliquis, Opdivo, and Revlimid (acquired in the company's 2019 purchase of Celgene) -- raked in combined revenue of $7.8 billion in the most recent quarter alone. And over the past five years, the company has grown its annual revenue, net income, and cash from operations by healthy amounts of 123%, 595%, and 207%, respectively.
Bristol Myers Squibb also pays an enviable dividend that yields 3%. On top of that, the company has raised its dividend by more than 50% over the past decade alone.
And while a healthcare behemoth like Bristol Myers Squibb may not grow at the same clip that a growth stock would in an up market, its gradual and consistent returns can not only lend additional streams of growth to an investor's portfolio, but also balance out other more volatile investments.
Over the past 10 years, the stock has delivered a total return of 181%. With its foothold on a diverse range of lucrative markets, its steady track record of growth, and solid history of enriching investors over time, Bristol Myers Squibb is a no-brainer investment to consider adding to your portfolio before the year is out.
