The healthcare industry evolves rapidly. Those companies that stay relevant often do so by breaking new ground. So it's a good idea for investors looking for exciting healthcare stocks to look at companies that have demonstrated innovative capabilities. Of course, that alone isn't enough to make them attractive picks, but it's a great start.
With that in mind, let's look at three revolutionary stocks investors can buy right now: Abbott Laboratories (ABT 0.63%), CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP 0.34%), and Moderna (MRNA 1.69%).
1. Abbott Laboratories
As a leading medical device company, Abbott Laboratories has stood the test of time. The healthcare giant's recipe for success includes its ability to develop innovative devices that improve patients' lives. Abbott's portfolio now features dozens of products. Last year, the company won innovation awards for four of its products, including its continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, the FreeStyle Libre.
CGM systems have gained significant traction in recent years; they offer diabetes patients an arguably superior method (compared to blood glucose meters) for keeping track of blood sugar levels, leading to better health outcomes. Abbott is one of the two companies, along with DexCom, leading this market. The CGM space represents just one of many growth opportunities available to Abbott Laboratories.
Meanwhile, the company is also an excellent pick for income-seeking investors. Abbott is a Dividend King currently on its 51st consecutive year of payout increases, an impressive feat showing that the company's underlying business is rock-solid beyond its innovative abilities.
But Abbott Laboratories hasn't performed well on the market lately, partly because its top line is fluctuating along with the number of COVID-19 cases; it's made money selling coronavirus diagnostic tests over the past three years. However, this issue shouldn't concern long-term investors since the market would've already priced in the loss of revenue from the COVID-19 diagnostic kits. Those willing to hold the company's shares for five years or more can safely buy the stock today.
2. CRISPR Therapeutics
Gene editing refers to techniques that allow scientists to modify an organism's DNA. It holds the potential to help uncover groundbreaking cures for various illnesses, many of which have eluded researchers for years. There haven't been many gene-editing therapies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and none so far that use the Nobel prize-winning CRISPR technique.
That could change very soon, thanks to CRISPR Therapeutics. The company's internally discovered leading candidate, developed in collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX -0.06%), is called exa-cel. It's currently being considered by the FDA and parallel agencies in other regions as a treatment for a pair of genetic blood-related disorders, sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The first approvals could come down in December.
Exa-cel looks promising: As a one-time curative treatment for diseases for which there are few treatment options, it will almost certainly command a price tag well above $1 million, as gene-editing treatments tend to do. So even with a relatively modest initial market of 32,000 patients, the potential opportunity is vast.
Furthermore, the approval of exa-cel will serve as a stepping stone for CRISPR Therapeutics. Investors like results, and no matter how promising the company's gene-editing platform looks, it has yet to produce an FDA-approved therapy. Once CRISPR Therapeutics gets that first victory under its belt, it's open season. The company has several other candidates that should make it to the market in the next half-decade.
CRISPR Therapeutics is an excellent stock for long-term biotech investors.
3. Moderna
The technology behind mRNA vaccines has been around for decades, but none of this kind had ever been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) until 2021. Early in the pandemic, this innovative technique showed some of its full potential to the general public. The speed with which mRNA vaccines were manufactured and commercialized was impressive, and Moderna was one of the leaders.
The biotech doesn't plan on stopping there, however. With a pipeline full of investigational candidates and plenty of cash left from its success in the earlier days of its COVID vaccine, Moderna is inching closer to launching new products onto the market. The company recently announced the submission of its potential respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to various regulatory bodies.
Meanwhile, it boasts several candidates in late-stage studies. They include an investigational cytomegalovirus vaccine (there are currently none), and a potential influenza vaccine. A third candidate is a therapy that seeks to decrease the risk of recurrence and death in melanoma patients when paired with Merck's blockbuster cancer treatment, Keytruda. Moderna has plenty more candidates in phase 2 or phase 1 studies, so its lineup should look very different in the next five years.
The stock has suffered of late, as Moderna's COVID portfolio is no longer generating the same volume of sales as it did in 2021 and 2022. But Moderna is proving that it isn't just a pandemic stock; investors who stick around for the ride will be rewarded.
