When the stock market is as turbulent as it is these days, it's easy to forget the times when things are decidedly more cheery. However, sell-offs present great opportunities to buy stocks with significant upside potential.
Three Motley Fool contributors think they've identified magnificent stocks that could double or more by 2030. Here's why they picked CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP 1.69%), Summit Therapeutics (SMMT +15.63%), and Viking Therapeutics (VKTX +0.17%) as stocks worth buying now.
A gene-editing specialist with significant upside potential
Prosper Junior Bakiny (CRISPR Therapeutics): Despite creating Casgevy, the first CRISPR-based gene-editing medicine to earn regulatory approval, CRISPR Therapeutics has not performed well in the past year and a half since hitting that milestone. The company is dealing with a notable headwind. Administering therapies of this kind takes time; the biotech has yet to generate much revenue from it. However, CRISPR Therapeutics' Casgevy, which treats a pair of blood-related disorders, has little competition. The medicine looks destined to exceed sales of $1 billion. CRISPR Therapeutics will reap immense profits even if it takes a little longer and even if the company has to share the spoils with its partner on this project, Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
NASDAQ: CRSP
Key Data Points
Further, CRISPR Therapeutics has several exciting pipeline candidates. The decades of research in gene editing should finally pay off as companies develop more breakthrough medicines for serious diseases, including some for which there are few treatment options. CRISPR Therapeutics is working on a functional cure for type 1 diabetes -- none currently exists. The biotech's CTX112, a potential therapy for B-cell malignancies, earned the Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The agency only grants this designation to medicines targeting serious diseases and for which there is strong early evidence for efficacy.
It's another testament to CRISPR Therapeutics' innovative abilities. The company could record significant clinical and regulatory wins in the next five years while improving its financial performance thanks to Casgevy. The stock is far too beaten-down right now. Those who initiate positions today could see outsize returns through the end of the decade and beyond.
A potential megablockbuster on the way
Keith Speights (Summit Therapeutics): Here's a pharmaceutical trivia question for you: What was the world's best-selling drug in 2024? If your answer was Keytruda, the cancer immunotherapy marketed by Merck, pat yourself on the back. The drug raked in sales of $29.5 billion last year.
I don't think Merck's market cap will double by 2030. But an up-and-coming challenger to the big pharma company could. Summit Therapeutics could have a blockbuster drug on the way that could give Keytruda a run for its money. Actually, I predict it will be a megablockbuster drug.
NASDAQ: SMMT
Key Data Points
Summit's partner, Chinese drugmaker Akeso, announced late-stage results last summer with experimental immunotherapy ivonescimab beating Keytruda in a head-to-head matchup as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Akeso is now marketing ivonescimab in China, but Summit owns the commercial rights for the drug in key markets, including the U.S. and Europe.
The Florida-based drugmaker expects to report results in mid-2025 from a late-stage study of ivonescimab in combination with chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for NSCLC. Summit is also evaluating the drug as a first-line treatment for NSCLC in combination with chemotherapy and as a monotherapy. It's targeting other types of cancer as well.
I think the odds of success for ivonescimab are pretty high considering the previous positive results from Akeso. If the drug wins U.S. and European Union approvals, Summit's share price could realistically double or more by the end of the decade.
Viking Therapeutics could have multiple catalysts on the horizon
David Jagielski (Viking Therapeutics): Shares of Viking Therapeutics have been crashing this year, by more than 40%, and the pharma company's reduced valuation makes it a much more compelling buy. Previously, investors were paying a big premium for a stock without any approved drugs. Now, at a market cap of $2.4 billion, it's still not a cheap buy, but at these levels, it's a much more tenable investment to take a chance on.
NASDAQ: VKTX
Key Data Points
Viking has multiple drug trials featuring its promising GLP-1 drug, VK2735. There's a phase 3 trial which will begin later this year, testing its effectiveness as a treatment for obesity and metabolic disorders. There's also a phase 2 obesity trial which is already underway for the oral version of the drug. Positive developments from either one of those trials could send the stock back on a much more positive trajectory. If all the stock does is get back to the highs it reached last year -- a market cap of nearly $9 billion -- it would not only double but more than triple in value from where it is today. Viking also has a drug, VK2809, for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which may soon enter phase 3 trials.
There's never any certainty when it comes to clinical trials, but with multiple balls in the air, it seems there is a good chance that Viking should at least have some positive news headed its way in the not-too-distant future. And with a more modest market cap, it's at a low enough valuation where it may be worthwhile for investors who can stomach some risk to consider allocating a small portion of their portfolio to this promising pharma stock, as the payoff could be significant.
