Almost every portfolio needs a couple of anchor stocks that tend to grow consistently over time regardless of the mood of the market or the state of the economy. Thanks to the must-buy nature of lifesaving medicines and the regular launch of new and improved drugs, pharma stocks are a good place to look for the anchors that might be right for you.

In that vein, there are three rock-solid pharma stocks in particular that are strong enough to buy today and enduring enough to hold for years, accruing growth all along the way. Let’s take a look at each to appreciate why they could be great additions to your portfolio.

1. Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) offers the diversification and stability that most investors want from pharma stocks but often struggle to find. In the second quarter, its portfolio of pharmaceuticals brought in nearly $1.3 billion, up by 8.1% year over year.

But drugs aren’t its only line of business. It also makes diagnostics, medical nutrition products, medical devices, and medical tools like cardiac stents. Hospitals need its goods to continue operating, even if they’re not trying to do anything fancy, which makes its revenue highly recurring in nature, as well as somewhat protecting the top line from the impact of downturns. That’s why Abbott is a company that isn’t going away anytime soon.

Over the last five years, its trailing-12-month normalized diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose by 66.4%, reaching $3.17. Thanks to the successful ongoing rollout of its new Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor (CGM) products, Wall Street analysts estimate that in its next fiscal year, its EPS will rise even higher to $5.13.

It’s especially appealing to hold due to its status as a Dividend King. While its forward yield of around 2% won’t make you rich, if you hold its shares for 10 years, assuming they’re similar to the last 10 years, you could see its annual dividend grow by 150%, which makes the proposition a lot sweeter.

2. AbbVie

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) is another pharma stalwart that actually spun off from Abbott Labs in 2013 so that Abbott’s primary pharmaceutical development business wouldn’t be encumbered by its other segments. In a nutshell, that means it’s exposed to more downside risk from its clinical trials potentially falling short of its targets, but it’s also exposed to more upside as a result of the premium associated with uncertainty.

In 2025 alone, it expects to get regulatory approval for at least five of its pipeline programs across diverse indications ranging from migraine prevention to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). In the same period, it plans to submit another four petitions to regulators for approval, setting it up for as many new approvals during the following year. As a result, analysts see its normalized diluted EPS exploding from $3.58 over the last four quarters to an annual total of $13.47 in two fiscal years from now.

Story continues

A couple of the primary drivers of that growth are great illustrations for one of AbbVie’s core advantages: The ability to squeeze more and more sales out of its commercialized medicines by pursuing further research and development (R&D) to get them approved to treat additional conditions. Its drugs, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, are expected to bring in a total of $16 billion in 2024. By 2027, however, management is banking on the pair bringing in more than $27 billion as a result of diligent ongoing R&D efforts.

With such a strong demonstrated ability to keep tacking on expansions to its addressable markets — a capability that management doubtlessly plans around well in advance — AbbVie can thus deliver good returns to shareholders over time even if it only launches a couple of completely new products.

3. Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) is a rock-solid investment because it has a mixture of market mastery and diversification. Its main line of business, developing therapies for cystic fibrosis (CF), is humming along, with a new medicine up for approval in early 2025 if regulators assent. Outside of CF, it’s also waiting to hear back about its acute pain candidate, which regulators will decide on at the end of January.

In the last five years alone, Vertex’s quarterly revenue climbed by 178.5%, or $934.9 million. Even more impressively, its quarterly operating income soared by 814% to above $2.6 billion.

The strategy is simple. As it’s the only drug developer with products that can treat the root causes of CF rather than just the symptoms, it has no competition for its market. It continuously develops and repackages its already-approved therapies for CF into new combinations, offering incremental improvements to efficacy along the way. Then, it funnels some of the proceeds to diversification into new programs in other verticals, fueling its potential for faster growth.

It will doubtlessly attempt to develop a cure for CF one day. That is likely to happen after its portfolio is sufficiently diversified among treating other illnesses. And, as shown by the recent launch of its cell therapy Casgevy for sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta-thalassemia, it’s not afraid of taking a cutting-edge approach wherever it competes. In biopharma, it’s hard to do better for long-term growth potential than Vertex.

Should you invest $1,000 in Abbott Laboratories right now?

Before you buy stock in Abbott Laboratories, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Abbott Laboratories wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $769,685!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of August 26, 2024

Alex Carchidi has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Abbott Laboratories and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

3 Rock-Solid Pharma Stocks to Buy Now and Hold Forever was originally published by The Motley Fool