Top Medical Stocks to Buy Amid Recent Market Volatility
Recent volatility in the stock market has been fueled by the 10-Year Treasury Yield rising over the last few weeks and still hovering near 5%.
Fear may be settling in as Bearish pundits start to make their case. However, several Zacks Medical sector stocks were recently added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) list over the last week and should be viable options for investors during economic uncertainty as healthcare is always essential.
Fresenius Medical Care FMS: Speaking to the essentiality of healthcare, Fresenius Medical Care’s stock is starting to look attractive even with global economic fears still prevalent. Based in Germany, Fresenius is one of the largest integrated providers of dialysis products and services for chronic kidney failure.
Notably, fiscal 2023 and FY24 earnings estimates have remained higher over the last 60 days with Fresenius' stock trading attractively at 13.4X forward earnings. Annual earnings are forecasted to dip -21% in FY23 at $1.30 per share following a tough-to-compete-against year but rebound and soar 23% in FY24 to $1.60 a share.
Plus, sales are projected to be up 5% this year and rise another 3% in FY24 to $21.97 billion. Fresenius also offers a generous 2.35% annual dividend yield with shares of FMS still up a respectable +5% in 2023.
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Vericel VCEL: Soaring +28% this year, Vericel Corporation’s stock stands out and investors may be eager to buy VCEL shares on the dip. Focused on developing patient-specific expanded cell therapies used in the treatment of severe diseases/conditions, Vericel's top-line expansion largely points to its future earnings potential.
Catapulting Vericel’s stock, sales are forecasted to jump 19% this year and climb another 24% in FY24 to $243.44 million. More intriguing, with earnings estimates on the rise the company is expecting a smaller adjusted loss of -$0.23 a share in FY23 with EPS forecasted to climb into the black at $0.08 per share in FY24.
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ImmunoGen IMGN: Lastly, ImmunoGen’s stock has skyrocketed +157% YTD and is a very enticing buy-the-dip candidate with IMGN shares trading at $12 and 38% from 52-week highs of $20 per share seen in July.
The very strong price performance in ImmunoGen stock has been attributed to a strengthening outlook as a biotechnology company focused on the development of targeted cancer therapeutics using its proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology.
Annual earnings estimates have soared throughout the quarter with FY23 EPS anticipated at an adjusted loss of -$0.10 a share compared to -$0.88 per share last year. Fiscal 2024 earnings are now expected to leap into the black at $0.19 per share. Furthermore, sales are expected at $340.39 million this year compared to $108.78 million in 2022 with ImmunoGen’s top line projected to expand another 45% in FY24 to $493.74 million.
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Bottom Line
Given the strengthening outlook of these healthcare stocks they currently have an “A” Zacks Style Scores grade for Momentum in addition to their Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The trend of rising earnings estimate revisions is compelling and makes Fresenius Medical Care, Vericel, and ImmunoGen’s stock very attractive at the moment with the broader medical sector generally being an ideal place to hide out during market volatility.
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Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (FMS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
ImmunoGen, Inc. (IMGN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Vericel Corporation (VCEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
