When it comes to underrated healthcare stocks that smart investors love, Abbott Laboratories(NYSE: ABT) takes the cake. While it might not seem as exciting as its similarly-sized peers in pharma or medical robotics, this stock has vast staying power that’s unlike most other companies in the market.
But many investors may misunderstand the point of owning Abbott shares since many of its markets are decidedly niche. After all, selling goods like cardiac stents and Pedialyte might be profitable, but those products certainly don’t seem like they’ll ever face a gold rush of fresh demand. On the contrary, it’s exactly Abbott’s willingness to compete in these spaces that makes the company one of the sturdiest.
So let’s examine some key ways Abbott might stand out in the eyes of an experienced investor.
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1. Slow and steady can be quite attractive
Given that Abbott has a market cap of about $238 billion and trailing revenue of $42.3 billion, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the business sometimes struggles to grow as aggressively as a smaller competitor might. Simply put, for companies that sell physical products like Abbott does, it’s easier to go from $1 billion to $2 billion in revenue than it is to go from $40 billion to $80 billion. And that’s just fine, because the appeal of this stock isn’t the same as a fast-paced growth stock in software or an emerging industry.
Instead, smart investors…
