Large Cap Biopharma are Core Holdings and just off their highs for the Year
- Our top picks have been ABBV, LLY, MRK, REGN and VRTX all up more than 20% except MRK is lagging.
- AZN and PFE have been trades and PFE is still a good hold..GILD looks like a good long trade.
- FUNDS have done well YTD: FBIOX up 15% PRHSX up 13%.
Clearly Large cap biopharmaceuticals have led the way in healthcare investing . Without an overweight in the top names like ABBVIE and Regeneron your portfolio is underperforming the S&P 500 by 8 % pts or more. Many of the large caps have blockbuster products like ABBVIe and Lilly and have growth, dividends and value. The FWD PEs have shot up with LLY now at 40 and VRTX at 25 but many of these growth companies have always been expensive. MERCK has ben laggng because of potential competition to KEYTRUDA and a large acquisition. ABBVIE is a leader in immunology products with HUMIRA and has helped stem sales declines with new products, ABBVIE has been very aggressive investing in the Neuroscience area.
AZN has had personnel issues in CHINA recently.
Although these stocks are more defensive relative to tech socks, they are not immune to sell-offs during sentiment shifts. During risk-on trading runs we prefer SMID caps like XBI.
Disclosure: LONG ABBV, GILD, LLY, MRK, PFE, REGN and VRTX; FBIOX ,PRHSX
| 1/15/18 | 3/31/23 | 11/1/19 | 10/8/2023 | 2024 | YTD | FWD | Analyst | % | 1 yr % | % | ||||
| Company | Ticker | Price | Price | Price | Price | PRICE | % Perf | 1 mo. | ||||||
| 8/8/24 | % Perf | P/S | PE | Recom | Div | |||||||||
| Abbvie | ABBV | 100.000 | 159.37 | 81.75 | 148.23 | 193.4 | 24.8 | 6.21 | 15.97 | 1.77 | 3.2 | 32.82 | 4.14 | |
| Alexion*(ALXN) | ALXN | 123.000 | 182.5 | 109.38 | – | 40.33 | n/a | 4.56 | 9.38 | n/a | AZN | |||
| Amgen | AMGN | 185.000 | 241.75 | 221 | 263 | 320.56 | 11.3 | 5.6 | 15.38 | 2.2 | 2.87 | 28.73 | 2.55 | |
| AstraZeneca* | AZN | 35.000 | 69.41 | 40.34 | 67.42 | 83.05 | 23.31 | 5.24 | 17.52 | 1.7 | 1.87 | 23.96 | 4.79 | |
| Biogen | BIIB | 336.000 | 278.31 | 299.2 | 263.25 | 200.81 | -22.4 | 3.15 | 11.66 | 1.69 | – | -18.38 | 2.94 | |
| Bristol Myers* | BMY | 63.000 | 69.31 | 57.16 | 56.66 | 48.7 | -5.09 | 2.12 | 7 | 2.64 | 4.92 | -18.38 | 2.94 | |
| Celgene* (BMY) | CELG | 106.000 | n/a | 108.53 | – | 77 | n/a | 4.69 | 8.7 | n/a | ||||
| Gilead Sci | GILD | 79.000 | 82.97 | 61.69 | 74.74 | 78.72 | -2.83 | 3.53 | 10.94 | 2.17 | 3.91 | 6.03 | 6.11 | |
| GlaxoSmithK* | GSK | 38.000 | 35.58 | 45 | 36.65 | 43.67 | 17.84 | 2.25 | 9.61 | 2.5 | 3.56 | 26.91 | 12.9 | |
| Johnson&J* | JNJ | new | 164.38 | 4.87 | 4.57 | 15.38 | 2.22 | 2.83 | 4.03 | 3.4 | ||||
| Eli Lilly | LLY | 85.000 | 343.42 | 113 | 565.22 | 902.71 | 54.86 | 22.4 | 40.19 | 1.54 | 0.56 | 61.21 | 13.81 | |
| Merck | MRK | 59.000 | 106.39 | 78 | 103.88 | 117.84 | 8.09 | 4.8 | 12.1 | 1.42 | 2.66 | 10.66 | 6.02 | |
| Pfizer | PFE | 40.8 | 33.13 | 28.56 | -0.8 | 2.91 | 23.13 | 2.26 | 5.9 | -16.9 | -2.59 | |||
| Regeneron | REGN | 367.000 | 821.67 | 310.48 | 836.57 | 1131.5 | 28.83 | 9.25 | 23.13 | 1.74 | – | 38.26 | 6.13 | |
| Vertex | VRTX | 158.000 | 315.07 | 196 | 360.62 | 468 | 15.02 | 11.7 | 25.14 | 1.91 | – | 35.02 | -1.33 | |
| 3/31 | 11/19 | 10/7/23 | 9/8/24 |
%YTD
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| XBI | 76.21 | 93 | 72.23 | 96.52 | 8.1 | 20.82 | 0.2 | |||||||
| IBB | 129.16 | 119.65 | 122.48 | 142.75 | 5.08 | 12.13 | 1.44 | |||||||
| FBIOX | 15.63 | 20.26 | 15.47 | 20.55 | 15.26 | 25 | 3.42 | |||||||
| PRHSX | 87.75 | 79 | 86.37 | 99.25 | 12.91 | 11.65 | 4.25 | |||||||
| XLV | 129.46 | 121.11 | 1 | 153.95 | 12.88 | 17.1 | 4.37 | |||||||
| XPH | 41.01 | 39.47 | 39.05 | 43.33 | 4.11 | 1.03 | 3.71 | |||||||
| UNH | 472.59 | 252 | 524.81 | 596.88 | 13.37 | 25.15 | 5.02 | |||||||
| QQQ | 320.93 | 201.23 | 364.7 | 448.69 | 9.56 | 19.73 | 2.08 | |||||||
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