It’s just one piece of positive news after another for Illinois-headquartered pharmaceutical businesses AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) stock.
For one thing, ABBV stock deserves a higher re-rating as the company recently disclosed regulatory victories in the U.S. as well as in Canada. Furthermore, AbbVie finalized its buyout of an immunology specialist, and this will likely provide a significant revenue source.
AbbVie isn’t one of those tiny, single-product drug developers. Rather, the company is a pharmaceutical giant that provides a broad range of medical treatments and solutions.
With a recent acquisition, AbbVie’s product range is only growing bigger and getting better. Given the company’s positive catalysts, AbbVie’s investors can confidently hold their positions while also collecting dividend payments along the way.
| ABBV | AbbVie | $152.82 |
What’s Happening with ABBV Stock?
ABBV stock is trading at a significant discount to its 52-week high of $175.91. Moreover, there’s a terrific value here as AbbVie’s trailing 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is quite reasonable at 20.8.
Even if you happened to invest in AbbVie now and the shares don’t return to their 52-week high immediately, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. That’s because AbbVie offers a generous 3.9% forward annual dividend yield, so you can collect those distributions while you wait.
Also while you wait, you can keep track of AbbVie’s regulatory wins. This is easier said than done since AbbVie is aggressive in working toward clearance for its vast clinical pipeline of medical treatments.
So, we’ll just give you a small sampling of AbbVie recent announcements. First, the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CMHP) recommended the approval of risankizumab for selected uses in treating Crohn’s disease.
Next, Health Canada approved risankizumab for specified treatment of adults with Crohn’s disease. Additionally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized upadacitinib as the first and only oral JAK inhibitor to treat certain adults with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis.
AbbVie Just Strengthened Its Immunology Pipeline
In addition to all of those positive catalysts, AbbVie also recently disclosed that it has acquired DJS Antibodies Ltd. This is a U.K.-based biotechnology company, and its primary product is DJS-002, an antibody intended to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic diseases.
The press release describes IPF as “an aggressive, high mortality disease caused by fibrotic scarring.” It further states that there is a “high unmet medical need” to treat IPF.
AbbVie is already an established leader in drug development for oncology, neuroscience, gastroenterology and other fields. Now, acquiring DJS Antibodies Ltd. will provide AbbVie with an immediate opportunity to augment the company’s immunology portfolio.
What You Can Do Now
How many more reasons do you need to consider owning ABBV stock? We’ve already told you about AbbVie’s dividend and what a great value the shares are at the current price point.
In addition, AbbVie recently added to its list of regulatory achievements and clinical pipeline additions. All in all, the odds are stacked heavily in favor of AbbVie continuing to reward its shareholders, so feel free to consider a long position now.
On the date of publication, Louis Navellier had a long position in ABBV. Louis Navellier did not have (either directly or indirectly) any other positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
The InvestorPlace Research Staff member primarily responsible for this article did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.