5 Best Pharma Stocks To Buy Now

2. Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 55

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) is a Thousand Oaks, California-based biotech company focused on innovation and differentiation in producing medicines to treat chronic diseases. The company is at the second position on our list of the ten best pharmaceutical stocks to buy now.

On October 11, Matthew Harrison at Morgan Stanley upgraded Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) stock from an Equal Weight to an Overweight rating and also increased the target price from $257 to $279. The analyst thinks that the mid-term potential of the company’s drug pipeline is underappreciated by the broader market. Furthermore, Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) can offer defensive positioning in a depressed market.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) also offers attractive short-term treatment options in the form of AMG133 for obesity management and biosimilar Amjevita. Harrison believes that AMG133 can achieve similar weight loss results as compared to Eli Lilly’s Tirzeptide at maximum dosage.

Here’s what Aristotle Capital Management said about Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) in its Q2 2022 investor letter:

“Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), the pharmaceutical company focused on biotechnology-based therapeutics, was also a top contributor for the quarter. The company reported solid results, with a variety of products, such as bone-strengthening drugs Prolia and EVENITY, contributing to overall revenue growth. Amgen continued to increase the market share for cholesterol drug Repatha (a catalyst we had originally identified), delivering record quarterly sales as the drug’s usage expands with high-risk patients who have not yet had a cardiovascular event, and as barriers for prescribers, healthcare systems and patients are removed. In addition, we believe the company is poised to gain market share with its biosimilars (akin to generic versions of biologic drugs), also a previously identified catalyst. Biosimilars accounted for over $2 billion in revenue in 2021, and we believe this has the potential to more than double by the end of the decade, accelerated by six additional biosimilars (for a total of 11 products on the market). This includes the upcoming launch in the U.S. of arthritis treatment Amjetiva in January 2023. Meanwhile, the company is advancing its robust pipeline of early- and late-stage assets, with several phase III results due this year. These developments have caused us to remain enthusiastic about Amgen’s ability to build on its decades of success developing novel treatments using biopharmaceuticals.”