5 Healthcare and Biotech Stocks to Buy Amid Monkeypox Threat

1. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 68

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. Although the company does not currently have a vaccine to treat monkeypox, on May 26, Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) announced that it is developing a test to diagnose monkeypox. Jorge Osorio, a monkeypox expert, and a pandemic defense coalition partner at Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT), explained everything there is to know about monkeypox and what measures can individuals take to protect and prevent its spread.

On July 20, Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) released earnings for the fiscal second quarter of 2022. The company reported earnings per share of $1.43 and outperformed EPS estimates by $0.29. The company’s revenue for the quarter amounted to $11.26 billion, up 10.11% year over year, and beat Wall Street expectations by $856.54 million.

Wall Street is bullish on Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT). On July 21, Citi analyst Joanne Wuensch revised her price target on Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) to $123 from $125 and reiterated a Buy rating on the shares.

At the end of Q1 2022, 68 hedge funds were long Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) with stakes worth $4.09 billion. This is compared to 64 positions in the previous quarter with stakes worth $4.25 billion.

As of March 31, Fisher Asset Management owns more than 9.1 million shares of Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) and is the largest shareholder in the company. The investment covers 0.63% of Ken Fisher’s 13F portfolio.

Here is what Diamond Hill Capital had to say about Abbot Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) in its “Diamond Hill Large Cap Concentrated Fund” first-quarter 2022 investor letter:

“Abbott Labs announced a recall of its infant formula brand Similac^® in the US. Though the recall will impact near-term revenues, we are not concerned about any long-term impacts. We remain optimistic about the company’s prospects over the long run because, in our view, it is one of the highest quality names in health care with a talented management team that makes smart capital allocation decisions. Abbott also has leading health care and consumer franchises with a particularly strong competitive position in the medical device business. Abbott continues to launch innovative products in key strategic areas (such as diabetes, structural heart and diagnostics), which should help drive not only revenue growth but margin expansion.”

You can also take a look at 11 Best Covid Vaccine and Pill Stocks To Invest In and 10 Healthcare Dividend Stocks with Over 3% Yield.

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