Update-2 5/23/26…Nice comeback for healthcare sector as the XLV is up 3.3% for the week but Technology continues to run with the XLK up 2.3%. But this was really a large cap rally with the PPH up 4.12% and the IBB and XBI trailing up about 1%. So we had some rotation into value and healthcare. But the Russell 2000 (IWM) should continue through June 2.7% for the week and almost 16% YTD.
- Large cap biopharmas moved up nicely: Merck (MRK) up 9.9%, Eli Lilly(LLY) up 5.98%, BMY up 4.32%, JNJ up 3.37%, ABBV up 2.52%,
- Many well known mid-caps moved up more than 5% for the week : DXCOM, TECH, BAX, ZTS,MTD etc including laggard MedTechs we follow: Boston Scientific (BSX), Danaher (DHR), GE HealthCare (GEHC and Edwards Life Sciences (EW). We bought more GEHC.
Update-1 5/20/26 11a EDT.Green screen indicator flashes buy signal in biotech sector as ARKG,XBI and IWM are all up. Momentum is rising with XBI up 2.5% at $130.
- 5/20…After close massive chip/AI rally coinciding with an SMID biotech rally with he XBI up 3.87% after 4 choppy session. The SOXX was up 4.74% and the XLK up 2.25%.
- When is AI coming to life science stocks?—a few small deals and news: Bristol Myers ( BMY) and Anthropic will employ Claude through-out their enterprise. And we added to GE Health Care Technologies (GEHC) at about $64/sh a major developer and supplier of radiology devices. Today this AI application appears to be validated in Cardiac Diagnosis with a small Canadian Company. Several drug discovery deals that utilize AI have been announced this year and i’m sure you will hear about many more.
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Large Cap Biopharma stocks are in Buying Range
- Large cap biopharma stocks have attractive valuations and a growing pipeline of new products .The stocks are about 10% off prices from February, a seasonal peak.
- Among the strongest areas for product growth are oncology and autoimmune diseases so look for M&A and licensing deals to boost revenues.
- Watch for rising momentum changes with this group as the RSIs are neutral.(about 50) Rallies through ASCO and Q2 earnings can be bought.
Diversify your portfolio with a biopharma stock Below is our monthly review of large cap biopharmaceuticals. Most of these stocks reached their highs in February of Q1, here values reflect all news and prices as of Friday 5/15. Notice today’s updated news on the Regeneron Phase 3 disappointing results for their Melanoma drug with REGN down 9% today, with two downgrades.
The oncology market is the most important sector of biopharma with 2.1M new cancer cases annually in the US with over 600,000 deaths. Innovation is transforming care with new targeted therapies, bispecific antibodies, specialized diagnostics like MRDs, CAR-T therapies , and cancer vaccines that can leverage the immune system to fight disease. Emerging technologies such as genomic sequencing, artificial intelligence and machine learning are accelerating biomarker and drug discovery, improving patient selection, and enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis.
Here are some general comments on the sector large cap biopharmaceuticals:
- The overall market for large cap biopharma stocks is flat down about 1% as represented by the IBB. The best fund the FBI0X is down 1% YTD after a nice run in 2025 up 44% over one year.
- Our current holdings of stocks which we would favor through June 2026 are: ABBV, BMY, GILD, MRK ,and PFE.
- Pfizer has been a disappointing stock but offers good value and a 6+% Div yield, with good potential growth from antibody drug conjugates (ADC).
- Merck was a top performer over one year of 44% , has good value with a P/S of 4.23 and a Fwd PE of 11.63.Keytruda remains a gold stanrdard.
- BMY is one of our best picks for 2026, is up over 5% YTD, pays a 4.4% div. and has signed a $15B R&D deal with China.
- ABBV has lagged but has a Fwd PE of 12.83, a Pfc of 18.45 and has leadership in autoimmune products with Skyrizi and a pipeline of products in neurodegenerative diseases. Compeition from JNJ in the autoimmune are is a concern.
- Regeneron took a 9.8% hit on the Phase 3 results for their pivotal Melanoma trial.
- We have been adding shares of NOVARTIS (NVS) a Swiss ADR, to our portfolio. The Fwd PE is 15.3, and the P/FCF is 15.48.
- Here is our last post on Large Cap Biopharma from March 2026.
| Analyst | p | PRICE | PRICE | 52 wk | ||||||||||||||
| Top Biopharmas | TICKER | PICK | TECH | Fwd/PE | Summ | 2022 | 11/23 | 7/12/25 | 1/4/26 | 5/15/26 | 1 yr % | YTD | div % | RSI | high | notes | ||
| Abbvie | ABBV | B | F | 12.93 | 1.65 | 161.64 | 138.59 | 192.45 | 229.31 | 210.39 | 15.8 | -7.92 | 3.29 | 55.3 | 244.8 | PEG 60 | ||
| Amgen | AMGN | H | U | 13.92 | 2.43 | 275 | 303 | 292.27 | 327.64 | 326.31 | -20.1 | -0.31 | 3.09 | 38.21 | 388 | D/Eq (6.24) | ||
| Astra Zeneca | AZN | B | F | 15.6 | 1.61 | 68 | 63.17 | 71.13 | 91.57 | 181.58 | 38 | -1.86 | 1.74 | 38.81 | 212.7 | P/B 5.95 | ||
| Bristol Myers Sq | BMY | B | F | 9.26 | 2.42 | 71.05 | 50.61 | 59 | 55.05 | 57 | 24.43 | 5.67 | 4.42 | 46.1 | 66.97 | P/B 5.8 | ||
| Eli Lilly | LLY | B | U | 22.64 | 1.48 | 447.71 | 597.71 | 793.01 | 1080.4 | 1005 | 37 | -6.49 | 0.69 | 60.5 | 1199 | PEG 80 | ||
| Gilead Science | GILD | H/B | F | 13.46 | 1.66 | 85.39 | 75.92 | 109.64 | 118 | 129.58 | 29 | 5.57 | 2.53 | 39.62 | 157 | PB 6.84 | ||
| Merck | MRK | B | U | 11.55 | 1.73 | 110.95 | 103 | 106.45 | 91.45 | 111.38 | 48.1 | 5.81 | 3.05 | 42,54 | 125.1 | P/B 6 | ||
| Pfizer | PFE | H | F | 8.91 | 2.54 | 51.24 | 29.48 | 25.18 | 25.87 | 25.33 | 12 | 1.73 | 6.79 | 33.2 | 27.94 | P/S 2.2 | ||
| Regeneron | REGN | H | F | 14.84 | 1.57 | 725 | 798 | 567.74 | 776.3 | 698 | 19.36 | -9.54 | 0.54 | 39.33 | 793 | |||
| Vertex | VRTX | H/B | F | 20.15 | 1.59 | 289 | 373.65 | 468.85 | 452.13 | 437 | 0.59 | -3.62 | 0 | 49.18 | 519 | P/B 5.74 | ||
| Van Eck ETF | PPH | B | U | 103.72 | 100.84 | 18.72 | -2.25 | 2.12 | 45.52 | 112.58 | LLY,NVS,MRK, NVO | |||||||
| iShares | IBB | B | F | 169 | 166.83 | 33.91 | (1.16) | 0.23 | 42.85 | 175 |
AMGN GILD, VRTX REGN
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