While some companies struggle with particularly turbulent macroeconomic conditions, others continue to exhibit resilience and enrich shareholders in the process. Investing in the latter companies can help your portfolio to ride out market storms and boost your returns over the long run.
Here are two stocks to consider adding to your portfolio right now.
1. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX 1.25%) remains the unequivocal leader in cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment, a space on track to be worth $32 billion by the year 2027. In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Vertex had profits of $2.7 billion, $2.3 billion, and $3.3 billion, respectively. Revenue totaled $9 billion in 2022, an 18% increase from the prior year.
And investors who have stayed with the stock through the last five years are sitting on a total trailing return of 96%, compared to the S&P 500's return of about 67% over that same time.
As of this writing, Vertex's four approved CF medicines -- a class of drugs known as CFTR modulators -- are the only drugs on the market that work to target the root cause of the genetic disease. These aren't onetime therapies -- each drug must be taken once every 12 hours. So they are recurring sources of revenue.
CFTR modulators aren't just improving how cystic fibrosis patients live; they can help them live longer, too. Roughly 1,000 people are diagnosed with cystic fibrosis every year in the U.S. Management estimates that there are upward of 20,000 people around the world who could be helped by its CF medications but aren't taking them yet. So there's a broad, expanding, and sustainable market opportunity.
And the CF treatments are just one point for investors to focus on. The company's product pipeline targets a range of multibillion-dollar addressable markets, including diabetes, acute pain, and rare blood disorders. Vertex's acquisition of ViaCyte, a company known for its stem cell therapies for Type 1 diabetes, significantly boosted its pipeline.
In early March, Vertex announced that one of its stem cell therapies for Type 1 diabetes, VX-264, had received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration for its investigational New Drug Application, with a phase 1/2 study set to follow in the months ahead.
Vertex, which largely targets underserved patient populations with ongoing and often rare medical needs, has a key competitive advantage with its CF medicines. That, plus its potential with other rare diseases in need of viable treatment options, bodes well for its growth runway and for long-term investors.
2. Innovative Industrial Properties
Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR 2.21%) operates in a highly volatile cannabis space. Federal legalization may be a long-off reality, and legalization on the state level is highly piecemeal.
Medical-use cannabis is the most widely available, something that Innovative Industrial Properties has capitalized on profitably.
The company is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that operates a portfolio of 110 properties across 19 states, including greenhouses and more. It purchases these properties from tenants and then leases them back under triple net leases, which means the tenants are responsible for the lion's share of all operating costs associated with the properties.
And Innovative Industrial Properties only leases to state-licensed growers of medical cannabis.
The company's triple net leases -- which average 15 years in length -- and its focus on medical marijuana provide a measure of resilience in an otherwise turbulent space. Even as the cannabis industry has faced a range of headwinds over the last year, Innovative Industrial Properties recently reported that rent collection for the month of February alone was at 92%.
Over the past five years, revenue and funds from operations have soared by 1,800% and 2,100%, respectively. The dividend, which currently yields nearly 10%, is up 620% over the trailing-five-year period.
The last couple of years have been tough for cannabis producers as a marijuana glut in Canada and the United States saw plant prices getting significantly compressed. This has resulted in a massive downward pressure in cannabis stock prices. That said, the global medical marijuana market is on track to hit a valuation of $17 billion this year. Moreover, well-managed companies with unique business models, such as Innovative, are sure to ride out the storm. Those looking to invest in this potential -- while reaping steady dividend income -- might want to consider buying the dip in this top marijuana stock.
