A final-minute three-pointer on the buzzer that you don’t have any doubt will go within the basket. A job interview the place you have been on the high of your recreation. A inventory with large development prospects. Some stuff you simply know will likely be profitable.

With this in thoughts, we requested three Motley Idiot contributors to establish surefire development shares you should purchase proper now. Here is why they selected Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM -0.27%), Eli Lilly (LLY 0.97%), and Vertex Prescription drugs (VRTX 1.99%). 

A number of pictures on aim

Keith Speights (Axsome Therapeutics): It often takes just one massive product to be a recreation changer for a small biotech inventory. Axsome may have 5.

The corporate already has two merchandise available on the market. Auvelity has blockbuster potential as a remedy for main depressive dysfunction. Axsome launched the drug only some months in the past. It additionally picked up rights to sleep-disorder drug Sunosi from Jazz Prescription drugs.

Auvelity may have further indications on the way in which. The drug (often known as AXS-05) achieved the first endpoint in a late-stage scientific research concentrating on Alzheimer’s illness agitation. Axsome additionally plans to advance the remedy right into a late-stage research for smoking cessation. 

In the meantime, Axsome expects to resubmit for U.S. approval of experimental migraine drug AXS-07 later this yr. The corporate plans to file for approval of AXS-14 in treating fibromyalgia as effectively. Final, however not least, Axsome is conducting a section 3 research of AXS-12 in treating narcolepsy. Outcomes from this research are anticipated within the first half of 2023.

Regardless of all of this potential, Axsome’s market capitalization at present stands under $2.8 billion. With a number of pictures on aim, I am assured that the corporate will rating a number of occasions over. Search for Axsome to develop a lot bigger inside the subsequent few years.

A beast that is solely going to get larger

David Jagielski (Eli Lilly): One development inventory I am extremely bullish on is Eli Lilly. The corporate already has some phenomenal merchandise in its portfolio, together with top-selling diabetes drugs Trulicity, which generated $7.4 billion in gross sales final yr and grew 15% yr over yr.

However what’s on the horizon for the corporate makes the inventory seem like a deal, regardless that it is buying and selling at 50 occasions earnings. That is as a result of diabetes medicine tirzepatide has the potential to be the most important drug ever. Some analysts consider the drug might hit $100 billion in annual income at its peak.

It has already been accredited to deal with diabetes and is bought underneath the model title Mounjaro. However it might even be the following massive weight-loss drug, demonstrating that it may well assist folks shave off as much as 22.5% of their physique weight in scientific trials.

Eli Lilly additionally has a promising Alzheimer’s remedy, donanemab, which didn’t get hold of accelerated approval final month. Nevertheless, the rejection was really excellent news as a result of the issue was the remedy was too efficient and never sufficient sufferers ended up utilizing it for lengthy sufficient. They have been capable of cease dosing early as a result of remedy’s effectiveness.

The information was inadequate for the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to decide on it. That is a fantastic cause for rejection because it’s the normal approval that issues most for the corporate. The promising trial outcomes do not harm these odds.

Eli Lilly is a massively worthwhile firm that netted a revenue of $6.2 billion final yr (practically 22% of its high line), and the underside line is prone to carry on rising. The corporate has some thrilling development alternatives in tirzepatide and donanemab, plus much more trials ongoing in its pipeline.

Regardless of its already huge $320 billion market cap, it is a enterprise that may get even larger sooner or later. For long-term buyers, Eli Lilly is as near a no brainer purchase as you may discover in healthcare.

This biotech remains to be simply getting began 

Prosper Junior Bakiny (Vertex Prescription drugs): Whereas many development shares have taken it on the chin previously yr, that hasn’t been the case for Vertex Prescription drugs. The biotech has crushed the market over the trailing-12-month interval, boosted by strong income, earnings development, and glorious long-term prospects. What’s extra, the drugmaker continues to impress with its monetary outcomes. 

In 2022, Vertex’s income elevated by 18% yr over yr to $8.9 billion, whereas its internet earnings soared to $3.3 billion, up 42% in comparison with the earlier fiscal yr. Vertex’s lineup of medicines that deal with the underlying causes of cystic fibrosis (CF) continues to generate a small fortune for the biotech. However the drugmaker is inching nearer to new approvals. 

The corporate lately reported sending purposes for regulatory approvals for exa-cel within the U.Okay. and Europe, whereas a rolling submission is underway within the U.S. Exa-cel treats beta-thalassemia and sickle cell illness, two blood-related ailments. With few remedy choices for both sickness, exa-cel may tackle a extreme unmet want whereas attaining spectacular ranges of economic success within the course of. 

Vertex additionally has different thrilling packages in its pipeline. These embody therapies that concentrate on kind 1 diabetes and acute and neuropathic ache, together with others. 

I feel that Vertex will earn main regulatory approvals and develop its lineup of medicines over the following a number of years. Income and earnings will proceed rising at a very good clip as will the corporate’s inventory value. That is a superb recipe for growth-oriented buyers.