You can look at the momentum for some stocks and have a feeling that it will end soon. Still others have such strong business prospects that they are practically unstoppable.
Three Motley Fool contributors believe they have identified them healthcare stocks in the latter category. Here’s why they think Eli Lilly(NYSE: LLY), Intuitive surgery(NASDAQ: ISRG)and Vertex Pharmaceuticals(NASDAQ: VRTX) are the unstoppable stocks to buy in 2025.
David Jagielski(Eli Lilly): Eli Lilly stock may appear to have peaked given its recent decline, but there’s still plenty of room for growth. The pharmaceutical giant has a ton of potential just thanks to its fast-growing GLP-1 drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound. The first is a diabetes drug, while the second is a recently approved weight loss drug. Together, they generated just under $4.4 billion in sales during the company’s most recent quarter (ended September 30, 2024).
But with these drugs in the early innings of their growth, there’s a lot more room to grow Eli Lilly’s sales and profits in the years to come. And while investors may be concerned about a potentially crowded GLP-1 weight loss market going forward, Zepbound remains the best weight loss drug available. In clinical trials, tirzepatide (the active ingredient in both Mounjar and Zepbound) helped people lose 26.6% of their body weight, on average, over an 84-week period.
The drug is a game-changer for both the company and the people who rely on it to reduce their weight, as they become healthier in the process and reduce their risk of many obesity-related diseases. Zepbound’s massive success is largely why investors are bullish on the business and why it looks unstoppable. And as the company works on oral drugs and other weight-loss treatments, it could unlock even more growth opportunities in the future.
Although it trades at 35 times next year’s estimated forward earnings (based on analyst estimates), Eli Lilly can still be an excellent long-term buy given its potential. This is an unstoppable growth stock that you can buy and hold in your portfolio for years.
Keith Speights (Intuitive Surgery): Once upon a time, the idea of using robots to perform surgeries could only appear in science fiction. Thanks to Intuitive Surgical, robotic surgery is a reality today. To date, almost 17 million operations have been performed with his da Vinci robotic surgical system.
Unsurprisingly, Intuitive Surgical is one of the top medical device stocks. Its stock has jumped roughly 28,870% since the company’s IPO in 2000. Over the past 12 months, the stock has jumped close to 60%.
This year, Intuitive Surgical predicts worldwide procedure growth of between 13% and 16%. The upper end of the guidance range is slightly lower than the 17% growth achieved in 2024. This reflects some near-term challenges for the company, including uncertainty in China and doctor strikes in South Korea.
However, the long-term opportunity for Intuitive Surgical is greater than ever. A year ago, the company estimated that 7 million procedures are performed each year for which it already has products and approvals, with a total of about 21 million procedures it could target with products and approvals in development. Intuitive’s new estimates boosted both figures by 1 million.
About 2.68 million procedures were performed with Intuitive’s da Vinci system last year. Another 95,000 procedures were performed with the Ion robotic system used for peripheral lung biopsy. That’s less than half the market Intuitive could handle with its current regulatory approvals and just 16.5% of the total addressable market.
I expect Intuitive Surgical to capture a lot more of this market over the next few years. I also predict that the addressable market will expand as the population ages and the company’s robotic technology improves.
Prosper Junior Bakiny (Vertex Pharmaceuticals): In December, shares of Vertex Pharmaceuticals fell off a cliff after poor phase 2 results for an investigational pain reliever. These things happen often in the volatile biotech industry, and in some cases, like this one, they create opportunities for investors to put their money into great stocks while they’re falling. Although Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ investigational pain treatment may have failed in a clinical trial, it could receive its first indication later this month.
Furthermore, the drugmaker still has a monopoly on the market for therapies that treat the underlying causes of cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare lung disease. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ dominance in the field continues to help it generate strong revenue and earnings. Elsewhere, Vertex’s pipeline has made huge strides. The company won approval for a newer, better CF drug in December. It also received regulatory approval for Casgevy, a gene-editing therapy developed in collaboration with CRISPR Therapeuticsstarting from the end of 2023.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has several late-stage programs and several others in earlier stages of development. The company’s track record in innovation speaks for itself. Many of his peers have tried but so far failed to develop competing CF therapies. While they may ultimately succeed, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is now casting a wider net and developing drugs in several therapeutic areas. The company’s lineup will look different in five years, but one thing won’t change: Vertex Pharmaceuticals will continue to generate excellent returns for patient investors. That’s why buying is a no-brainer, especially at current levels.
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David Jagielski has no position in any of the listed stocks. Keith Speights holds positions at Intuitive Surgical and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prosper Junior Bakiny holds positions at Eli Lilly, Intuitive Surgical and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends CRISPR Therapeutics, Intuitive Surgical and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
