If you are looking for a growth stock in June, then this list from some Motley Fool contributors has you covered. There’s Veeva Systems (NYSE: VEEV) a fast-growing tech company serving the pharmaceutical industry. BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: BMRN), a pharmaceutical company with a unique niche and still-solid growth expectations, is currently a little too unloved on Wall Street. And beaten-down A.O. Smith (NYSE: AOS), a boring industrial company, has been experiencing a slowdown in growth due to outside factors that don’t actually change the company’s long-term growth story. Take some time to get to know this trio, and it’s highly likely you’ll find one worth adding to your portfolio this month.
The incredible streak continues
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Brian Stoffel (Veeva Systems): I’ve been covering Veeva Systems — the software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that’s building the cloud for the pharmaceutical industry — ever since it went public in 2013. I thought I had a handle on how fast the company could grow, and when it would reach the understandable limits of that growth.
After reviewing the company’s last earnings release, I have to admit I was wrong: Veeva continues to impress with blockbuster growth. But unlike much of its SaaS brethren, earnings are growing faster than sales right now.
That’s because Veeva has spent the better part of the past five years building out its Veeva Vault suite, which helps a pharmaceutical company do everything necessary to bring a drug to market. Currently, there are 17 tools in Vault, and that count will likely grow.
But over the longer time frame, two additional catalysts make me believe Veeva is an excellent buy at today’s prices: the growing demand for Veeva solutions outside of life sciences, and the release of Veeva Nitro — a warehouse database for drug companies. And all of these services are protected by very high switching costs away from Veeva’s software in highly regulated industries.
Combine these forces — the popularity of Vault, the potential outside of pharmaceuticals, the release of Nitro, and a wide moat — and I think Veeva deserves a spot on the list of best growth stocks for June.
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An out-of-favor orphan drug specialist
George Budwell (BioMarin Pharmaceutical): BioMarin, a mid-cap rare disease specialist, is worth checking out this month for a couple of reasons. First, the biotech’s shares have fallen off a cliff over the last 12 months for all the wrong reasons.
Like most publicly traded biopharmas, BioMarin has seen its valuation come under immense pressure from the prescription-drug pricing debate in the United States. BioMarin’s products target exceedingly rare conditions, so the company has a solid reason for charging a premium for its medicines, but the market doesn’t seem to care about the rationale. At some point, though, this “man with a hammer” phenomenon will fade, allowing orphan drugmakers like BioMarin to get back to business as usual from a valuation standpoint.
The biotech’s shares also took a big hit last month following the less-than-pristine readout for the experimental hemophilia A treatment valoctocogene roxaparvovec, or Valrox for short. While Valrox’s pivotal data suggests that it could be a game-changer for this rare bleeding disorder, Wall Street was apparently expecting absolute perfection. During the same clinical update, BioMarin released data from an earlier-stage study that seems to imply that Valrox’s benefits begin to fade at around the two-year mark.
That’s not a deal-breaker from a regulatory standpoint by any stretch, but investors were clearly hoping Valrox would turn out to be a so-called “one and done” therapy. Regardless, the therapy’s late-stage data appears to be compelling enough to get a green-light from regulators next year, potentially giving the company yet another major growth driver.
Another key reason to consider buying BioMarin’s stock this month is the fact that the company sports one of the fastest-growing top lines in the industry. Wall Street’s forecast calls for BioMarin’s top line to jump by 14% each year for the next two years. That’s a stellar growth rate for a company with a nearly $15 billion market cap.
Bottom line: BioMarin’s shares should eventually break out of this malaise to resume their winning ways. Long-term investors, in turn, might want to consider adding this top growth stock to their portfolio soon.
Don’t mind the stumble
Reuben Gregg Brewer (A.O. Smith): Nothing on Wall Street goes in a straight line. That said, nobody likes to see a fast-growing company quickly decelerate. Which is what’s happened to water heater maker A.O. Smith. Investors have sent the shares down by roughly 40% since early 2018, with the company projecting just 4% earnings growth in 2019 after 20% growth in 2018 and high-teens growth the two years before that.
But the long-term story is still pretty strong. A.O. Smith makes water heaters, a given in developed markets (about 65% of sales), but a luxury that everyone wants in developing markets like China and India (combined, about 35% of sales). In China, the company has expanded sales at a 19% annualized clip over the past decade using the same game plan it is now starting to put into play in India. A.O. Smith expects its target market to more than double in India by 2030. China, meanwhile, continues to offer a solid opportunity as more residents move up the socioeconomic ladder (and buy hot water heaters) and the company expands into air and water purification — other things developed markets take for granted.
The problem is that China’s growth is slowing, a fact complicated by, and intertwined with, the trade war. But remember: Nothing goes in a straight line on Wall Street. Ups and downs don’t change the long-term desire for A.O. Smith’s products. With a strong balance sheet, there’s no reason to think that the current headwind will be anything but temporary on this company’s long-term growth path. Now is an excellent time for a deep dive if you are looking for a growth stock.
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Brian Stoffel owns shares of Veeva Systems. George Budwell has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Veeva Systems. The Motley Fool recommends BioMarin Pharmaceutical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
