Biotech Stocks To Add to Your Watchlist – May 6th

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie, and Thermo Fisher Scientific are the three Biotech stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat’s stock screener tool. Biotech stocks are shares of publicly traded companies that use biological processes, genetic engineering and molecular biology to develop new drugs, therapies and diagnostic tools. Because these firms invest heavily in research and clinical trials, their stock prices can be highly volatile—often jumping on positive trial results or plunging if regulatory approvals are delayed or denied. Investors in biotech seek potentially high returns but must accept the significant risks posed by long development timelines and scientific uncertainties. These companies had the highest dollar trading volume of any Biotech stocks within the last several days.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX)

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biotechnology company, engages in developing and commercializing therapies for treating cystic fibrosis (CF). It markets TRIKAFTA/KAFTRIO for people with CF with at least one F508del mutation for 2 years of age or older; SYMDEKO/SYMKEVI for people with CF for 6 years of age or older; ORKAMBI for CF patients 1 year or older; and KALYDECO for the treatment of patients with 1 year or older who have CF with ivacaftor.

Shares of VRTX traded down $65.64 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $434.56. The company had a trading volume of 4,010,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,356,214. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $492.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $466.91. The company has a market capitalization of $111.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -197.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a current ratio of 2.69. Vertex Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $377.85 and a 1-year high of $519.88.

AbbVie (ABBV)

AbbVie Inc. discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company offers Humira, an injection for autoimmune and intestinal Behçet's diseases, and pyoderma gangrenosum; Skyrizi to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, psoriatic disease, and Crohn's disease; Rinvoq to treat rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, axial spondyloarthropathy, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease; Imbruvica for the treatment of adult patients with blood cancers; Epkinly to treat lymphoma; Elahere to treat cancer; and Venclexta/Venclyxto to treat blood cancers.

Shares of ABBV stock traded down $6.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $189.73. 3,098,413 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,066,939. AbbVie has a 1-year low of $153.58 and a 1-year high of $218.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.94. The company has a market cap of $335.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $187.27.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, and bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded down $6.35 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $415.92. The company had a trading volume of 1,233,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,770,863. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $473.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $519.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Thermo Fisher Scientific has a fifty-two week low of $409.85 and a fifty-two week high of $627.88. The firm has a market cap of $157.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.82.