Eli Lilly is clearly a force of nature in the biopharma realm.
Today, Lilly — the famous maker of weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro — is the biggest health care stock on the S&P 500 with a market cap of almost $845.6 billion.
But the Category 5 power of Eli Lilly is even more evident when you consider how much its stock has appreciated over the past 10 years. Shares ended October 2014 at 66.33 a share. Today, Lilly shares are trading near 890. That puts its gain at roughly 1,241% over the past decade.
In fact, of the top 10 health care equities in the S&P 500, Eli Lilly has far outperformed its peers. On average, the biggest companies by market cap in the S&P have gained an average 402% over the past decade, according to IBD's MarketSurge. The analysis doesn't account for stock splits.
S&P 500: Eli Lilly And Intuitive Surgical Outperform
The rise of some S&P 500 health care stocks follows the Covid pandemic and comes amid increased enthusiasm for weight-loss drugs. However, behind Eli Lilly, robotic surgery behemoth Intuitive Surgical has the biggest gain.
That's surprising because Intuitive Surgical stock struggled during the pandemic when surgeries got delayed. Additionally, bariatric surgery has taken a back seat for many patients to weight-loss shots from Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Still, Intuitive Surgical stock has soared 786% over the past 10 years, from an October 2014 close at 55.09 to nearly 490 today.
The company is launching its next-generation system, the da Vinci 5, and more hospitals are getting behind the technology.
"Even as competitors are making more noise in the space, competitive win rates seem stable as the company benefits from a broad portfolio of systems, instruments, indications and software — the totality of which delivers the best (return on investment) in the market," William Blair analyst Brandon Vazquez said in an August report.
Behind Eli Lilly and Intuitive Surgical, S&P 500 health care stocks United Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Danaher have appreciated 524%, 424% and 409%, respectively, over the past decade.
Health Care Stocks AbbVie And Merck Trail
The bottom five gainers among the top 10 health care stocks include traditional drugmakers like AbbVie, Merck and Amgen. Their 10-year gains have been less bullish at 209%, 115% and 97%.
For years, AbbVie has been best known for its golden goose, immunology drug Humira. But now that Humira is facing biosimilar rivals, AbbVie is leaning on its newer drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq. In fact, Skyrizi brought in $2.73 billion in second-quarter sales, nearly matching Humira's $2.81 billion.
Meanwhile, S&P 500's No. 27, Merck, is still riding the sails of cancer blockbuster Keytruda. In the June quarter, Keytruda brought in $7.27 billion in sales.
Amgen is making a name for itself in the weight-loss arena with an experimental monthly shot called MariTide. Excitement continues building for obesity treatments — evidenced by Eli Lilly's stock performance — and burgeoning pipelines, Piper Sandler analysts said in a September report to clients.
"Big Pharma's strong interest in obesity is underscored by Lilly having 10-plus and Novo having eight-plus obesity agents in development," they said. "Other large players are committed to making further investments in their own cardiometabolic pipelines."
S&P 500's Abbott And Johnson & Johnson
Abbott Laboratories and Johnson & Johnson round out the list of top S&P 500 health care stocks.
Abbott is playing close to the obesity market with its continuous glucose monitors, Freestyle Libre and Lingo. The latter just launched for people without diabetes as a metabolic health tool. It rivals Dexcom — another S&P 500 stock, though ranked lower at No. 309.
Abbott stock has gained 160% over the past decade, leading a 50% rise for Johnson & Johnson. J&J sells both drugs and medtech devices. It's also trying to break into the robotic surgery space with a potential rival to Intuitive Surgical.
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