Large Cap Biopharma Boosts Portfolio Gains

• Large-cap biopharma provides growth plus dividends and drives M&A for pipeline replenishment.

• Biotech stocks boost healthcare portfolios with innovation and new products.

• Offers balance to InfoTech portfolios yet can benefit from AI applications.

Away from the volatility and daily headlines of AI and InfoTech, you can add some biotech stocks to buffer your portfolio. Large-cap biopharma stocks offer growth plus dividends and are more immune to geopolitical and economic events.

Here are some takeaways from the data below and the pharmaceutical sector overall:

1. If you don't want to pick stocks, a good option is to buy the IBB up over 17% YTD and 44% over one year, or just buy the Fidelity Select Biotech Sector Fund (FBIOX) up 17% YTD, 43.7% over one year.

2. We also own shares in SWISS pharma companies Novartis (NVS) up 10.63% YTD and Roche ADR (RHHBY) up 7.39% YTD.

3. Two plays for laggard stocks are: AZN for M&A and PFE for value and yield, with key execs buying Pfizer stock

4. AMGN is the best performer, yet the analyst summary is not bullish?

5. Our largest positions are AbbVie (ABBV), Lilly (LLY), and Novartis

6. When in doubt on a trade, RSI or momentum is a good indicator.

7. The XBI and the IWM are good indicators for overall biotech and SMID biotech strength.

8. Merck (MRK) is the best performer, 29% YTD and 61% over one year. RSI is a robust 68.