3 Hot Health Care Stocks To Add To Your July Watchlist
You can’t deny that health care has been and continues to be a top priority in the world today. By extension, this would see health care stocks continue to gain traction in the stock market today. Indeed, as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic and its various variants, maintaining one’s health would be key. This would be the case as many countries are seeing a resurgence in cases brought about by the Delta variant. If anything, health care companies need to bring their A-game to the table now, more than ever. With this in mind, some would argue that it is prime time to keep an eye on the top health care stocks.
Accordingly, Senate Democrats recently announced another positive update regarding their budget allocation. Namely, the current budget agreement will see up to $3.5 trillion worth of federal resources allocated towards key industries highlighted by President Joe Biden over the next decade. The three key areas of focus include climate change, family services, and health care programs. In particular, the federal Medicare program is now being expanded to include vision, hearing, and dental benefits for U.S. seniors. Overall, the current spending plan would serve to bolster the economy further towards recovery. Because of all this, investors could see opportunities in the health care industry now.
For one thing, the health care industry is home to a wide array of stocks for varying investment strategies. Investors looking towards more defensive plays would consider pharmaceutical giants like GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK). Alternatively, those looking to bet on coronavirus stocks could be looking at Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA). You may say that investors are spoilt for choices in the stock market now. Could one of these three be a top buy?
Top Health Care Stocks To Buy [Or Sell] This Week
- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)
- AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV)
- UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH)
Pfizer Inc.
Pfizer is a multinational health care company that is headquartered in New York City. It was one of the first companies in the world to have had its coronavirus vaccine approved for use. With over 170 years of experience, the company also has a wide portfolio of innovative medicines and vaccines. The company has also collaborated with health care providers, governments, and local communities to support and expand affordable health care around the world. PFE stock currently trades at $39.92 a share as of 1:22 p.m. ET.
Last week, the company announced a new collaboration with Biogen (NASDAQ: BIIB) and AbbVie to create the world’s largest browsable resource linking rare protein-coding genetic variants to human health and disease. The companies engaged with the Broad Institute for data processing and to conduct single variant and gene-based association testing with approximately 4,000 UK Biobank phenotypes to identify associations between distinct genes. This would help better utilize biomedical data and would no doubt support the company’s development pipeline.
In June, the company also published positive findings for its oral Janus kinase inhibitor, tofacitinib. The trial demonstrated the cumulative incidence of death had reduced with the drug when compared to the placebo for hospitalized patients with coronavirus-related pneumonia. Also, the company recently declared a third-quarter dividend of $0.39 for the company’s common stock, payable on September 7, 2021. All things considered, will you add PFE stock to your portfolio?
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AbbVie Inc.
AbbVie is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes advanced therapies. With over 45,000 employees, the company is dedicated to helping patients around the world. Specifically, its therapeutic areas include oncology, neuroscience, and immunology among others. AbbVie continues to leverage its core R&D expertise to target specific difficult-to-cure diseases. ABBV stock currently trades at $116.91 as of 1:22 p.m. ET.
In late June, the company reported that its upadacitinib drug had met the primary and all secondary endpoints in its 52-week Phase 3 ulcerative colitis maintenance study. Ulcerative colitis is a disease with unpredictable symptoms and frequent flares, so the company is very encouraged by the results it sees. Furthermore, AbbVie reports that safety results were consistent with its previous Phase 3 induction studies and no new safety risks were observed.
In anticipation of the company’s second-quarter 2021 earnings on July 30, 2021, how has the company been doing financially? Based on its latest quarter financials in April, AbbVie posted net revenue of $13.01 billion, an increase of 51% year-over-year. Its global net revenue from its immunology portfolio was an impressive $4.86 billion. The company also posted first-quarter diluted earnings per share of $1.99. With an excellent start to 2021, the company hopes to deliver an impressive performance in 2021 as it expects five approvals this year. With that in mind, do you think ABBV stock is worth watching right now?
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UnitedHealth Group Inc.
Another top name to know in the health care industry now would be UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH). In brief, the Minnesota-based company identifies as a managed health care and insurance services provider. Notably, UNH offers its clients the full spectrum of health benefit programs in the U.S. It does so for individuals, employers, and even Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. Moreover, UNH boasts direct contracts with over 1.3 million physicians and care professionals across 6,500 health care facilities nationwide. With UNH stock currently trading at $414.51 a share as of 1:22 p.m. ET, could it be worth investing in right now?
While that remains to be seen, UNH seems to be gaining momentum. For starters, the company would be a prime candidate to benefit from the current federal tailwinds in the health care industry. Ideally, as the coverage of Medicare grows, so too would the demand for UNH’s industry-leading services. On top of that, the company is now employing predictive analytics to further optimize its services. Through this tech, UNH can more efficiently identify “people in need of support related to social determinants of health”. Simply put, UNH can now help employers on this front by assessing over 300 markets across the U.S.
Overall, UNH’s market reach seems to be expanding across the board. If that wasn’t enough, the company also saw green across the board in its latest quarter fiscal posted in April. In short, it raked in total revenue of $70.2 billion and saw a sizable year-over-year bump of 44% in earnings per share. With UNH looking to report its second-quarter earnings before tomorrow’s opening bell, will you be investing in UNH stock?
