Growth stocks were back in style in 2023 after a disappointing year in 2022. However, not every growth-oriented company kept pace with the broader indexes. Here are two that didn't: Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SRPT) and DexCom (NASDAQ: DXCM). These two healthcare companies certainly have their share of issues. But despite their relatively poor performances, both are worth buying and holding onto. Here is why.

Last year, Sarepta Therapeutics faced challenging clinical and regulatory issues. In late October, the company reported somewhat disappointing phase 3 trial results for a key medicine, Elevidys, leading to doubts regarding a label expansion for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) therapy. And that was after the first approval of Elevidys was delayed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier in the year.

Sarepta Therapeutics has done fantastic work developing medicines for DMD, a progressive neurodegenerative medicine that affects patients' muscles. The approval of Elevidys, though delayed, was also a significant milestone for the biotech. It was the first gene therapy approved for DMD, and unlike Sarepta's other medicines that merely target the symptoms of the disease, Elevidys is a one-time treatment that addresses the underlying genetic conditions of DMD.

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Source Fool.com