Should Investors Be Watching These Top Biotech Stocks Now?
It has been over a year since the coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise. As a result, biotech stocks are in the spotlight more than ever on the stock market right now. This would be the case seeing as news channels around the globe have and continue to cover coronavirus vaccine development news. By extension, the general public, including investors, continues to learn more about the core regulatory processes in the biotech industry. If that wasn’t enough, biotech is also a combination of the health care and tech industries. On one hand, its roots in the field of medicine would help with long-term viability as companies work to improve our overall quality of life. On the other hand, with the competitive drive to innovate in terms of tech, there is no shortage of news for investors.
Given the overall focus on health care now, I can understand if investors are bullish on biotech stocks. We could look at the likes of Humanigen (NASDAQ: HGEN) for example. The company boasts several late-stage clinical trial drugs in its cancer portfolio now. Notably, Humanigen’s COVID-19 treatment, Lenzilumab continues to draw investor attention. Now, HGEN stock is up by over 170% in the past year. Elsewhere, new players in the field of biotech continue to emerge as well. Last Friday, Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXRX), Akoya Biosciences (NASDAQ: AKYA), and Biomea Fusion (NASDAQ: BMEA) started trading on the Nasdaq. With all this activity in the field of biotech, should you consider watching these top biotech stocks on the stock market today?
Best Biotech Stocks To Watch In April
- Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA)
- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
- Crispr Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP)
Moderna Inc.
Moderna is a biotech company with an industry-leading mRNA technology platform. The platform is used to accelerate drug discovery and early development. The company also boasts a rapidly expanding pipeline and a world-class team. Aside from creating a vaccine for the coronavirus, the company is also studying the prospects of using mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines and other rare diseases. MRNA stock currently trades at $156.80 as of 3:31 p.m. ET and has been up by 200% in the last year.
Last week, the company provided a clinical and supply update on its coronavirus vaccine program. Firstly, there were new results from its preclinical study of the company’s variant-specific vaccine candidate showing increased neutralizing titers against coronavirus variants. Secondly, the company reports that it has delivered approximately 132 million doses of vaccines globally.
“The Moderna team continues to make important progress with our COVID-19 Vaccine. We are looking forward to having the clinical data from our variant-specific booster candidates, as well as clinical data from the Phase 2/3 study of our COVID-19 Vaccine in adolescents,” said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. Given all of this, will you consider adding MRNA stock to your watchlist?
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Pfizer Inc.
Pfizer is a research-based global biopharmaceutical company. It is engaged in the development and manufacture of health care products. The company also boasts a global portfolio of medicines and vaccines. With 25,000 clinical researchers, the company focuses on pharmaceutical development and innovation. PFE stock currently trades at $39.06 as of 3:31 p.m. ET. Late last month, the company announced positive topline results in a Phase 3 trial in adolescents for its coronavirus vaccine study.
In detail, the company reported that its vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 15 demonstrated 100% efficacy and robust antibody responses. For reference, this exceeded those recorded earlier in vaccinated participants aged 16 to 25 years old. The company is urgently seeking to expand the authorization of its vaccine to use in the younger populations and will be submitting a proposed amendment to its Emergency Use Authorization in the coming weeks and to other regulators around the world.
Given how there are no available vaccines for school children yet, could Pfizer be on the verge of another huge milestone? With that in mind, will PFE stock be worth adding to your portfolio?
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Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) is a multinational corporation that develops medical devices and pharmaceuticals. With over 130 years of experience, it is the world’s largest most broadly-based health care company. Impressively, the company includes some 250 subsidiary companies with operations in 60 countries. Its products are sold in over 175 countries. JNJ stock currently trades at $166.24 as of 3:32 p.m. ET and has been up by 2.32% on Tuesday’s opening bell. Investors seem to be responding to the company’s latest earnings report today.
In it, the company posted its first-quarter sales of $22.3 billion, a 7.9% increase year-over-year. The company also reported an earnings per share of $2.32, a 6.9% increase compared to a year earlier. The company also announced that its dividend increased by 5% to $1.06 per share. This sizable first-quarter performance was driven by momentum in its core pharmaceutical and medical device businesses. To this end, JNJ not only delivers financially, but also continues advancing its robust pipeline of products. If anything, all this is a testament to the company’s strength and resilience during this pandemic. Would you add JNJ stock to your watchlist for these reasons?
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Crispr Therapeutics
Another top biotech stock in focus now would be Crispr Therapeutics. For some context, the Swiss-American biotech company is a leading name in the gene-editing tech industry. For the most part, it is currently developing transformative gene-based medicines using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. Through this platform, Crispr primarily focuses on treating rare diseases and cancers.
Given the wide possible applications of its tech, investors could be looking at CRSP stock right now. This appears to be the case as CRSP stock has more than doubled in value over the past year. In fact, the company’s shares are making headlines today thanks to its latest announcement.
Specifically, Crispr announced an amendment to its current collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX). Together with the biotech giant, Crispr is working to develop, manufacture, and commercialize CTX001, a gene-based sickle cell disease treatment. More importantly, the amendments will see Crispr receiving $900 million in upfront payment and $200 million in regulatory milestone payments. On top of that, Crispr will be receiving 40% of potential future profits from the sales of the treatment. While Vertex may be taking the lead on this project, Crispr’s biotech remains a vital component, nonetheless. Could this make CRSP stock worth watching now?
