10 Best Stocks To Buy Right Now According To Billionaire Cliff Asness

6. The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q2 2024:

AQR Funds’ Latest Investment Stake: $510 million

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI) is a diversified healthcare benefits and insurance company. Its two primary business lines are pharmacy and healthcare insurance and benefits. Out of these, pharmacy contributes the most to The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)’s revenue as, during H1 2024, $87.1 billion out of the firm’s $117.7 billion, or 74% came through this division. This makes pharmacy performance a key part of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)’s hypothesis, and with more than 62,000 pharmacies in its network, the firm enjoys considerable advantages in terms of market share, low costs, and industry partnerships. Additionally, compared to McKesson, The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)’s shares have done well over the year and are up by 15% year to date. The firm benefits from its diversified model by being able to operate in different markets such as specialty and generic. This is key, as the specialty business also enables The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)  to target the biosimilar market which enables greater healthcare access for rare and other diseases by selling similar drugs to reference treatments.

The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI)’s management shared details for its Specialty business during the Q2 2024 earnings call:

“In Accredo, our specialty business, our growth continues to be fueled by secular tailwinds as well as Accredo’s differentiated strength which makes us the market leader in the space. Biosimilars, for example, represent a force of change and a substantial opportunity for continued growth and impact. At the end of June, we began dispensing our interchangeable biosimilar for Humira. Our program has zero dollar out-of-pocket cost for patients, saving them on average $3,500 per year. To deliver these savings, we have agreements in place with multiple manufacturers that will produce biosimilars for Evernorth pharmaceutical distributor, Quallent Pharmaceuticals. Now the biosimilar opportunity goes well beyond Humira. By 2030, we expect an additional $100 million of annual specialty drug spend in the U.S. will be subject to biosimilar and generic competition.

And Accredo is well positioned to deliver differentiated value for our clients, customers and patients.”