AbbVie (ABBV) is the seventh biggest biopharmaceutical company worldwide in terms of revenue.

If you’re on the lookout for stocks that also offer juicy dividends, then this is a good company to add to your list alongside Dividend Aristocrats like Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Pfizer (PFE).

Since its split from Abbott Labs (ABT) back in 2013, AbbVie has increased its revenue by roughly 2.5 times.

In just a few years post-spin-off, its profits have grown from $18.8 billion to an impressive $46 billion in the last fiscal year.

A huge chunk of AbbVie’s growth is attributed to its blockbuster drug Humira, which is the number one selling drug in 2020 with a whopping $19.8 billion in net revenue.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that the drug’s impending loss of patent exclusivity in the US in 2023 is a major pain point for AbbVie investors.

However, it looks like AbbVie has positioned itself well into a future without Humira.

Although Humira does lead AbbVie’s immunology portfolio, the company’s other products in this lineup are also promising.

Up-and-coming drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq both reported doubled annual sales from 2019 to 2020, with the two expected to bring in $15 billion by 2025.

Actually, Rinvoq is slated as the successor to Humira and is groomed as a “key growth driver” through 2026.

Putting money where its mouth is, AbbVie has performed notably in the first quarter of 2021 with a 50% increase from its 2020 net revenue to hit over $12.94 billion.

Its net profit also saw a double-digit bump of 18% to reach $3.55 billion. 

Despite off-patent woes, Humira still enjoyed a 3.5% uptick in sales to rake in $4.9 billion for the quarter.

Meanwhile, AbbVie’s aesthetic product line showed off an impressive 35% jump during the period, adding over $1.1 billion to revenue.

Reflecting the good news this quarter, AbbVie boosted its profitability guidance for 2021.

From an adjusted per-share net profit in the range of $12.32 to $12.52, the company now estimates it to be somewhere between $12.37 and $12.57.

Diversification has also been explored, with AbbVie veering from immunology and venturing into other segments like oncology, eye care, neuroscience, and even aesthetics.

One way AbbVie has been filling the Humira revenue gap is via acquisitions.

In 2015, the company acquired Pharmacyclics. This deal added a blockbuster drug, Imbruvica, in AbbVie’s lineup.

In 2020, Imbruvica generated roughly $4.7 billion in sales.

With an estimated compound annual growth rate of 26.5%, Imbruvica is projected to reach approximately $31.8 billion in sales through 2025.

On top of that, AbbVie has filed a slew of patents to restrict generic competition against Imbruvica until at least 2035.

Another major acquisition is Allergan, which added roughly 120 new products under AbbVie’s banner following the deal’s completion in May 2020.

Collectively, these products brought in $16 billion in sales in 2019 for Allergan—a noteworthy performance that translated to AbbVie’s 2020 revenue, which grew from $33 billion in 2019 to $45.8 billion a year later.

Perhaps the most notable addition from the Allergan acquisition is Botox.

In 2019, this drug raked in roughly $2.7 billion in sales. Similar to Imbruvica’s potential, Botox also presents a powerful growth runway.

In fact, this Allergan blockbuster is estimated to generate more than $13.4 billion in revenue by 2026.

Apart from the additional 120 products it injected into AbbVie’s portfolio, Allergan also queued 60 more development programs, which could generate at least $2 billion in sales by 2023.

AbbVie is one of the more innovative and newer biopharmaceutical companies to take the biotechnology and healthcare market by storm. Given the company’s strong pipeline programs, it’s definitely poised for more robust growth.

Spun off from Abbott Labs in 2013, this company currently sits at a massive market capitalization of roughly $205 billion.

If its portfolio, pipeline programs, acquisitions, and recent first-quarter earnings reports can tell us anything, it’s that AbbVie still has a lot of room to grow. Hence, it’s good to buy the dip.

Despite the exceptional performance of a handful of biotechnology companies, many healthcare stocks have languished over the course of the last 12 months due to the extra costs and added uncertainty brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid its continuous success for almost a decade, with shares climbing by over 800% from 2012 to mid-2020 and outpacing the S&P 500 nearly four times over, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) stock was not spared during this turbulent period.

In fact, shares of the company fell by roughly 25% in mid-October following their decision to cancel the development of VX-814.

This once-promising drug, which was initially expected to treat a genetic disorder affecting the liver and kidney, showed disappointing results in its trials last year.

Despite falling out of favor with investors, I think this $55.66 billion-by-market-capitalization biotechnology company holds a strong track record and remains a compelling buy—a fact proven by its first quarter earnings report.

Vertex recorded $1.72 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2021, showing off a 14% year-over-year jump and topping the projected estimate from analysts of $1.66 billion.

The company also reported a notable improvement on its bottom line, with an adjusted net income of $781 million or $2.98 per share.

In comparison, Vertex recorded $674 million in earnings or $2.56 per share during the same period in 2020.

This embattled biotechnology company marked the end of the first quarter with a total of $6.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, exhibiting a $265 million increase from the end of 2020.

Although Vertex anticipates a slowdown in its revenue growth this year, it still projects a full-year sale in the range of $6.7 billion and $6.9 billion.

To see if this is realistic, let’s take a look at the company’s current drug portfolio.

The core of Vertex’s business is its cystic fibrosis (CF) lineup. Without treatment, this disease could lead to the early death of patients.

At the moment, Vertex has four approved CF drugs out in the market: Kalydeco, Orkambi, Symdeko, and Trikafta.

With the extent of patient profiles that these four drugs cover, Vertex has virtually cornered the CF market and established a monopoly.

To date, roughly 50% of cystic patients in the US, Australia, Canada, and Europe are treated using Vertex drugs.

Among the four, Trikafta appears to have the potential to become a blockbuster.

Trikafta is forecasted to take the lion’s share in the CF market in the next few years, with its revenue rising from $3.8 billion to $8.9 billion by 2026. This would translate to a growth in Vertex’s CF program from $6.2 billion to $9.6 billion.

While skeptics might assume that the growth projection is too high, it’s important to remember the trajectory of the Trikafta-Kaftrio drug.

The revenue of this combo grew from $420 million in 2019 to a whopping $3.86 billion in 2020.

Given that CF has become a lucrative market, it no longer comes as a surprise that competitors are starting to swarm the space.

Vertex’s biggest rival in the space so far is AbbVie (ABBV), which has been working on triple combinations of its own drugs.

Apart from its CF programs, Vertex’s pipelines also serve as catalysts for its growth.

Although VX-814 failed and caused the company’s shares to fall in 2020, Vertex has another candidate, VX-864, which has been showing more promising results as of late.

You might be wondering why Vertex insists on working on this drug despite the backlash it suffered last year. This is primarily rooted in the potential of the product.

VX-864, if successful, could be the next CF-like moneymaker for Vertex. By 2026, sales for this drug are estimated to reach $640 million and will peak by 2030 at $1.1 billion.

On top of these, Vertex has collaborated with CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) to develop gene therapy for sickle cell disease. So far, the treatment has received a fast-track designation from the FDA.

If approved, their drug, CTX-001, will directly compete with bluebird bio’s (BLUE) LentiGlobin.

The current pricing for bluebird’s therapy is $1.2 million.

To date, there are roughly 250,000 patients suffering from sickle cell disease in the US and Europe. Among them, 25% are diagnosed to be in the severe stages. This is the market that CTX-001 aims to target.

Using the pricing of LentiGlobin as the basis, CTX-001 has the potential to reach $1.6 billion in sales in 2026 and peak at $2 billion in 2029.

If the two companies succeed in this, then CTX-001 is another blockbuster drug added to Vertex’s portfolio.

Overall, Vertex is a good long-term investment stock. It has a proven track record and a healthy pipeline filled with promising candidates. I say you should take advantage and buy the dips.