One of the greatest changes in the American landscape going forward will be demographics. The Baby Boomers make up the largest generation in the country’s history. With the large amount of wealthy older Americans, there will be more demand than ever for cutting edge pharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, and cutting-edge treatments and therapies. This is a great time to buy reliable healthcare stocks for your portfolio.
The healthcare industry has faced some bumps in the road in recent years. The pandemic greatly disrupted elective operations at hospitals, leading to profit shortfalls for various hospital operators and medical device companies. And supply chain and labor shortages have caused further stress.
That said, things appear to be stabilizing on the inflation front, as it pertains to these top healthcare stocks to buy. With profit pressures beginning to abate, these long-term healthcare stocks are well-positioned for the years to come.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. J&J was founded way back in 1886 and has long been a dominant force in the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries.
What makes J&J interesting now is that the firm recently spun off its consumer wellness business, Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE). This long-awaited move simplified the company’s corporate structure and should allow both companies to obtain a higher valuation as standalone enterprises.
In the meantime, JNJ stock is actually down slightly over the past year. Given the big bull market elsewhere, that marks an opportunity. JNJ stock goes for just 15 times forward earnings and offers a rock-solid 3% dividend yield.
Medtronic (MDT)
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) is a medical device company that is known for its cardiology products. Over the years, however, it has grown and now addresses a wide range of other conditions such as diabetes and neurology.
Medtronic has been a massive winner historically, with shares rising more than 9,000% over the past forty years. That said, MDT stock has been merely treading water over the past few years.
This was in large part because of the pandemic. Hospitals delayed surgeries in order to prioritize Covid-19 patients. Further to that, many people avoided non-urgent medical procedures during this period to avoid any potential exposure to Covid. Recent issues with supply chains and cost inflation have further slowed the recovery for leading medical device firms like Medtronic.
However, the long-term opportunity remains tremendous; analysts believe the global market will reach nearly $1 trillion in revenues by 2030. MDT stock has been flat over the past year, making it a relative bargain today at 17 times earnings and with a 3.2% dividend yield.
Charles River Laboratories (CRL)
Charles River Laboratories (NYSE:CRL) is a different kind of healthcare stock. Instead of making the key drugs or devices that save people’s lives, it instead helps provide the tools that make it possible to discover these drugs. It is one of the great picks and shovels plays, in other words, on the drug discovery market.
That’s because Charles River is the world’s largest producers of lab specimens. It breeds and sells the lab animals, typically mice and rats, that are used in clinical drug trials. This business has a tremendous moat, as the FDA has exceptionally high safety standards, and thus almost all biotech companies use Charles River’s trusted products to ensure standardized and replicable trial results.
Charles River, however, has gotten into trouble over the past year. It imports non-human primates from Cambodia, and has come under government scrutiny for buying illegally-sourced monkeys. This is certainly bad news in the short-term. However, more than 80% of all FDA approved drugs between 2020 and 2022 had Charles River providing research assistance services; the company has a de facto monopoly regardless of this scandal.
More broadly, Charles River has been expanding into area such as software and consulting services to help biotech firms design trials. As its revenues become less reliant on animal models, that should lower the firm’s risk. In any case, with CRL stock down more than 50% since its 2021 peak, this long-term growth machine is now at a bargain price.
On the date of publication, Ian Bezek held a long position in JNJ, MDT, and CRL stock. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
