The three most prominent themes in stock investing this year have been artificial intelligence (AI), weight-loss care, and profitability. Companies with strong profitability and/or ties to AI and obesity have, on balance, outperformed the broader markets in 2023. Not all of these high-flying equities are ripe for profit-taking, however. A handful of these top-performing stocks still have ample room to run over the long term.
Healthcare stocks Regeneron Pharmaceuticals(REGN -0.84%) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX -0.06%)are prime examples. Even though both stocks bumped up against their 52-week high in recent trading, each company still screens as a compelling buy-and-hold for investors with an extended horizon. Read on to find out more about these two innovation-oriented healthcare stocks.
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Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: A proven winner
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is an innovation and value-creation powerhouse. Since becoming a publicly traded company in 1991, the biotech's shares have risen by an astounding 3,870%. The secret to the company's success has been its ability to develop important new biologic therapies for hard-to-treat diseases, along with its long-standing partnerships with industry titans Sanofi and Bayer.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' three core value drivers are its eye disease drug Eylea (now available in a high-dose form), immunology drug Dupixent, and anti-cancer therapy Libtayo. Its late-stage pipeline is a tad thin for a company of its size, but the Sanofi-partnered candidate for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, itepekimab, could be another blockbuster.
The company's shares have jumped by nearly 14% since the start of August, thanks to the Food and Drug Administration's approval of high-dose Eylea late in the month. With its shares trading at approximately 6.4 times 2027 projected sales, however, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock is still "cheap" from a historical perspective. The company could also get a significant financial boost in the years ahead from its collaborations with cutting-edge companies like Intellia Therapeutics.
REGN PS Ratio data by YCharts
Vertex Pharmaceuticals: A top-shelf rare disease stock
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has the pieces in place to potentially treat up to 90% of the global cystic fibrosis population. Better still, its cystic fibrosis franchise, consisting of Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko, and Trikafta, is expected to dominate the market for the foreseeable future, because of a favorable combination of a lack of viable competitors and the company's extensive patent portfolio. Investors have bid up the biotech's shares this year in response to robust demand for its latest cystic fibrosis offering, Trikafta. In the most recent quarter, the drug hauled in an impressive $2.24 billion, an increase of 18.3% over the same period a year ago.
Vertex isn't standing pat, however. The company's somewhat limited but equally bold pipeline is striving to develop treatments for APOL1-mediated kidney disease, non-opioid pain medications, rare blood disorders, and diabetes. While Vertex Pharmaceuticals is unlikely to hit on all its clinical initiatives, it should yield enough new major drugs in the next five years to keep the growth party going well into the next decade. Moreover, its dominant cystic fibrosis franchise generates ample free cash flows, which should comfortably fund both its clinical and business development activities in the years ahead.
In all, Vertex Pharmaceuticals stock screens as a no-brainer buy right now -- despite the biotech's stellar 28.5% return year-to-date.
