Amgen released some underwhelming numbers last week after missing expectations on revenue. The share price has also been disappointing of late, it is flat over the last year.
The shining light in the numbers was strong growth in Repatha sales. Repatha helps fight heart disease, a massive killer around the world. Volumes grew by 25% year on year.
Owning Amgen is like owning a focused Biotech ETF. They currently have 20 branded drugs on the market, some are in the early days of patent and are growing in sales. Others are older with increased competition and are slowly being phased out. You can see their branded drugs portfolio in the image below (ROW = Rest of World), you may recognise a few.
On the sidelines they put a huge amount of money into creating more blockbuster drugs. While you wait for that to happen you enjoy a relatively stable share price and a handsome 3% dividend yield. If they hit it big with a new drug, the share price will have solid moves higher.
You shouldn't get impatient with this one. Covid has reminded us all how important the pharmaceutical companies are. They apply most of their resources to saving lives. And if they didn't make money out of it, they wouldn't do the job half as well. Keep holding Amgen, it's time to shine will come.