Don’t Sleep on These 2 Pharmaceutical Stocks
It hasn't been a great year for pharma companies. The industry, as measured by the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals Index, is up less than 1.5% since the beginning of the year, a period during which the S&P has gained about 18%. And some big players have had it far worse. Case in point: AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) stock is down by 13% year to date, while Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) shares are down by 7%.
Both have faced company-specific obstacles, but despite their recently lackluster performances, there are good reasons to think these pharma giants could stage amazing comebacks.
AbbVie has become practically synonymous with Humira, and with good reason. The drugmaker's best-selling treatment has generated a majority of its revenues in recent years. Last year, for example, sales of Humira came in at $13.6 billion -- 63.5% of AbbVie's adjusted net revenues. However, the U.S. patent on the biologic expired in 2016, and low-cost biosimilars were introduced in Europe late last year, which means that its international sales are destined to decline. Further, while Humira will continue to dominate the U.S. immunology market in the near future, biosimilars will likely be introduced domestically by 2023.
Source Fool.com
