The Covid 72: 72 Stocks to Buy Now?
Covid-19 risk makes buying in biotech by the gross surprisingly sensible.
Sometimes Wikipedia really does capture the firefly of common wisdom. Take its explanation of the board game Risk: "A strategy game of diplomacy, conflict and conquest"... or the exact picture of the risky group of biopharmaceutical genetic engineering companies racing for a cure to Covid-19.
There was a time -- say, last December -- when any self-respecting professional investor looked carefully before betting on the race to harness low-cost genetic engineering and sequencing tools to fight diseases. Certainly, the science behind biopharma concepts of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, or CRISPRs, dates all the way back to the late 1980’s. And since then, countless promising tools and techniques have emerged to battle everything from hepatitis to cancer to foot and mouth disease. Genetic engineering works.
Problem is, developing such drugs takes years, if not decades. And even the most well-funded and well-organized biopharma products could simply fail in trials. Over the years, it was the few mega-hits that paid for all the ignominious misses. Seattle Genetics (SGEN) and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) spun up $35 billion in combined market capital, treating rare diseases. But, penny stocks, like Actinium (ATNM) and VistaGen (VTGN), spent a decade exploring non-lucrative therapies in stuff like nasal sprays that reduce anxiety.
Finding value in biopharma is not easy. Take Biogen (BIIB) or Amgen (AMGN). Even in the midst of a pandemic-induced equity crash, investors realized that each firm’s lock on neurological disease and arthritis would shield both. Share prices never followed the larger market downward.
Keep in mind the vaccine market both may potentially service is a notoriously low-margin business. Inoculations for Covid-19 will be measured in the billions of doses.
Just think of the shipping and potential refrigeration costs.
Covid Makes The BioPharma Risk “Less Risky”
Thanks to Covid-19, the relative risk of biopharma may be changing. Investors are feeling their way through a new economic order where the steel, automotive and energy markets might get half as small. Even the nominal winners in the emerging socially-distant economy are still plenty risky: Video conferencing leader Zoom (ZM) is facing new risk as its technology emerged as anything but secure. Where will a Web beast like Amazon (AMZN) find its growth when nobody has any money to buy or make anything?
Factoring for the risks of a biopharmaceutical industry racing to find a cure to Covid-19 now requires a wider narrative imagination.
No question, humanity will find a cure. It might be a regimen of existing drugs. Maybe it’s a spiffy new vaccine. Or perhaps a distributed naturally developed immunity will do the trick. But a cure is coming. As of April 20, we counted 687 Covid-19 studies listed from the World Health Organization database. The FDA has been notified that 190 labs have started some sort of testing as part of its emergency guidance. There are even reports of innovation in Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, showing improved outcomes, as measured by the World Health Assembly.
Here is a list of 72 biopharma companies, all with some sort of argument to creating a cure for Covid-19.
We have begun the process of handicapping the winners from the losers. But immediately we wondered why. Given the newly risky world of Covid-19 and the uncertainty other sectors face besides biotech, what exactly is wrong with buying the basket of all of these firms and adjusting the exposure as events unfold?
Considering the alternatives, what else is there to invest in that's any safer?
Company
Ticker Price
Biogen Inc.
BIIB
$326.94
Amgen Inc.
AMGN
$221.80
Allergan plc.
AGN
$185.71
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ
$152.02
Seattle Genetics, Inc.
SGEN
$125.04
Sarepta Therapeutics,
SRPT
$112.09
Alexion Pharmaceuticals
ALXN
$96.94
Neurocrine Biosciences
NBIX
$95.13
Incyte Corporation
INCY
$90.95
BioMarin Pharmaceutical
BMRN
$82.36
Karuna Therapeutics, Inc.
KRTX
$71.39
Global Blood
GBT
$66.62
Axsome Therapeutics,
AXSM
$64.43
Allakos Inc.
ALLK
$61.46
Bristol Myers Squibb
BMY
$59.46
Ionis Pharmaceuticals,
IONS
$50.81
CRISPR Therapeutics AG
CRSP
$48.13
Eagle Pharmaceuticals,
EGRX
$48.04
Sanofi
SNY
$47.75
Bluebird Bio, Inc.
BLUE
$47.37
Moderna
MRNA
$46.85
PTC Therapeutics, Inc.
PTCT
$46.67
Krystal Biotech, Inc.
KRYS
$45.15
GlaxoSmithKline
GSK
$42.07
Pfizer
PFE
$36.91
FibroGen, Inc.
FGEN
$35.36
Biohaven Pharmaceutical
BHVN
$33.71
Sage Therapeutics, Inc.
SAGE
$28.70
Allogene Therapeutics,
ALLO
$25.67
Zogenix, Inc.
ZGNX
$25.53
Collegium
COLL
$18.76
Nektar Therapeutics
NKTR
$18.40
Exelixis Inc.
EXEL
$18.22
Albireo Pharma, Inc.
ALBO
$18.17
Assembly Biosciences,
ASMB
$16.94
Rocket Pharmaceuticals,
RCKT
$15.53
Revance Therapeutics,
RVNC
$14.80
Retrophin, Inc.
RTRX
$14.61
Xenon Pharmaceuticals
XENE
$12.92
BeyondSpring Inc.
BYSI
$12.80
Cellectis S.A.
CLLS
$10.89
Celyad S.A.
CYAD
$9.00
Autolus Therapeutics plc
AUTL
$8.32
Atara Biotherapeutics,
ATRA
$7.92
Calithera Biosciences,
CALA
$7.85
Portola Pharmaceuticals,
PTLA
$6.89
Precision BioSciences,
DTIL
$6.61
Minerva Neurosciences
NERV
$6.54
Pfenex Inc.
PFNX
$6.45
NuCana plc
NCNA
$5.79
Viking Therapeutics, Inc.
VKTX
$5.27
LogicBio Therapeutics,
LOGC
$5.16
Kezar Life Sciences, Inc.
KZR
$4.39
BioDelivery Sciences
BDSI
$4.21
PhaseBio
PHAS
$4.01
ImmunoGen, Inc.
IMGN
$3.43
Ovid Therapeutics Inc.
OVID
$3.39
Adamas
ADMS
$3.34
Aduro Biotech, Inc.
ADRO
$3.16
Dynavax Technologies
DVAX
$3.08
Selecta Biosciences, Inc.
SELB
$2.78
Agenus Inc.
AGEN
$2.60
Pieris Pharmaceuticals,
PIRS
$2.58
Agile Therapeutics, Inc.
AGRX
$2.25
Anixa BioSciences
ANIX
$1.99
Acer Therapeutics Inc.
ACER
$1.87
Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc.
ACRS
$1.25
Aileron Therapeutics, Inc.
ALRN
$0.63
VistaGen Therapeutics,
VTGN
$0.47
Actinium
ATNM
$0.19
