Pfizer Inc. (PFE), Zoetis Inc (ZTS), Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), Sanofi SA (ADR) (SNY): 5 Reasons to Invest in Animal Health

Another reason is that most animal health care customers (both pet and livestock) do not have animal health insurance. The costs of animal medications are instead paid 100% upfront and out of pocket, with no animal health insurance companies to tell veterinarians to prescribe the cheaper generic alternative. And since customers are responsible for all of the costs, it allows for customers to develop a strong loyalty for a specific brand name they trust (much more so than in human prescription meds). Would you as a pet owner rather trust your dog’s health to Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY)’s top selling Frontline flea and tick treatment or to some random generic brand you’ve never heard of? If we refer back to the study about dog owners, foreign tourists, and immediate blood relatives, I think we all know the answer to that question.

Foolish bottom line

Today, there is only one major pure play available to investors in this space. And currently Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)’s and Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY)’s management have made zero indication that they are planning on separating their own animal health business. All of that, however, could change very quickly depending on the future successes of Zoetis Inc (NYSE:ZTS). If the Zoetis pure play is able to capitalize on the growing megatrends in animal health, we could very well see a slew of big pharma companies making plans to create their own pure-play animal health care companies. And with the overall stock market’s recent love of spinoffs, it seems like it really is only a matter of time.

The article 5 Reasons to Invest in Animal Health originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Matthew Luke.

Matthew Luke owns shares of Zoetis. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook. 

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