Equity markets kicked off 2023 on an upbeat note, but some companies seem to have missed the memo and remain southbound. That's the case with biotech giant Amgen (AMGN 0.05%) and online dating specialist Match Group (MTCH -0.72%) -- both are facing multiple near-term issues that are keeping them close to their 52-week lows.
Digging deeper, though, reveals that Amgen and Match Group both have excellent prospects. Let's consider how these two companies can help deliver market-beating returns over the long run.
1. Amgen
Amgen has been dealing with declining sales of some of its key products, causing the company's revenue to grow, if at all, at a pretty modest pace. That's what we saw in 2022, with the company's total revenue climbing by just 1% year over year to $26.3 billion.
Among Amgen's important medicines whose sales dropped in 2022 is immuno-suppressant Enbrel, which faced competition that led to lower sales volume and net selling prices. Enbrel was Amgen's best-selling product in 2022, so this is rightly a cause for concern, and partly explains why the company's shares haven't been doing well. But drugmakers are used to declining revenue due to competition, biosimilar or otherwise. The best-performing biotechs can generally overcome obstacles like this over the long run, notably by earning approval for brand-new products to replace the older ones.
That's precisely what Amgen is doing. One of its most recent approvals, asthma treatment Tezspire, earned a label expansion in the U.S. in February; it's now indicated for self-administration. It was previously indicated to be administered via subcutaneous injection by a healthcare professional. Tezspire first won the green light in the U.S. in December 2021. Amgen and its partner on this program, U.K.-based AstraZeneca, have high hopes for this medicine, especially since it's being evaluated to treat other conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Meanwhile, Amgen recently launched a biosimilar version of AbbVie's blockbuster immunology drug Humira in the U.S. This is a $20 billion opportunity, although there will be plenty of other Humira biosimilars. The company's pipeline features dozens of additional programs; Amgen knows how to innovate and navigate times of revenue declines.
And with $9 billion in free cash flow, Amgen can expand its lineup by acquiring promising clinical compounds from other companies -- or buying out smaller biotechs altogether, a move it has resorted to in the past. Last year, it acquired ChemoCentryx, a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and immunology, for $3.7 billion in cash. Amgen is working on a much larger transaction where it will buy out Horizon Therapeutics for $27.8 billion. These will help Amgen strengthen its lineup and pipeline.
Lastly, Amgen is an outstanding dividend stock, now offering a yield of 3.8%; it's raised its payouts by 61% in the past five years. Reinvesting dividend payments helps boost the performance of a portfolio over the long run, so this is one more way Amgen can help patient investors beat the market.
2. Match Group
Match Group is the leader in online dating. The company's portfolio includes quite a few dating websites and apps, most notably Tinder, which popularized the "swipe left/right" approach to dating. Tinder is Match Group's most important asset, and that's why the company's new CEO, Bernard Kim, is working hard to optimize it.
Kim became Match Group's CEO last year. One of his first major executive decisions was to let go of Tinder's now-former CEO, Renate Nyborg, and to make changes to the app's management team. Match Group plans to release several updates and new features for Tinder this year to drive greater engagement and jump-start the app's revenue growth.
Of course, Tinder will continue to focus on its successful subscription and advertising model. But with the addition of former Snap executive Will Wu as the chief technology officer, expect it to see real progress in its attempt to increase monetization of its users. Innovation on Tinder and on Hinge, Match Group's second most popular service, will help reverse a recent trend of low or declining revenue growth and a drop in the number of paying subscribers -- key reasons that Match Group is hovering near its 52-week low of about $34.78.
For 2022, the company's revenue increased by almost 7% year over year to $3.2 billion. Match Group's total number of paying subscribers was 16.1 million at the end of the year, a decrease of 1% year over year.
Still, opportunities remain in online dating. Even among its current base of users, most don't pay for the services that Match Group offers. For instance, Tinder has more than 75 million monthly active users worldwide, only 10.8 million of whom are paying subscribers. That gives Tinder plenty of room to convert many of them.
In addition, the global market still looks untapped, particularly in Asia, which Match Group thinks is its largest opportunity. After all, the continent is the largest in the world by population, but online dating remains in the early stages of its adoption in the region.
Match Group's Tinder has arguably created a solid brand name that will attract future online daters due to its reputation alone. That's why it remains the most popular dating app in the world. Furthermore, the value of Tinder -- and the company's other platforms -- increases as more people use it, since (in an example of the network effect) it leads to more potential partners.
The percentage of couples who have met online has increased substantially in the past few decades. That's set to continue for a while, and Match Group is well-positioned to benefit over the long run. It's what makes the company's stock a buy.
