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With market volatility becoming the norm, Piper Sandler introduced eight “high quality” defensive growth stocks in the biopharmaceutical space this week. The firm’s comments come after a global sell-off in stocks on Monday, sending the S&P 500 down 3% following weaker-than-expected U.S. employment data.
While the benchmark index recovered as the week progressed, Piper analyst Christopher Raymond and his team noted that the biopharmaceutical industry is largely immune to macroeconomic headwinds as many of its treatments enjoy demand resilience.
“We believe the current turmoil in global markets has led to a broad-based simultaneous sell-off and increased the likelihood of an early rate cut, so we believe it makes sense to hold high-quality defensive growth stocks,” the team added.
As a result, analysts recommend biopharmaceutical companies with durable, high growth prospects, significantly reduced asset risk, and recession-resistant operations. Piper’s coverage includes the following eight defensive biotech companies:
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ALNY), Argen x (Nasdaq:ARGX), BioChristo Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:BCRX), BioMarine Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:BMRN), Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX), Cytokinetics (CYTK), Legend Biotech (LEGN), and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT).
The brokerage has rated all stocks overweight and has target prices of $296, $553, $20, $107, $26, $107, $90, and $205 per share, respectively.
