The Best Stock in New Jersey: Celgene

We scoured the nation to identify the best stock in every state. Celgene (symbol CELG) is the publicly traded company we picked in New Jersey. The company headquarters is located in Summit.

A word of caution: Since we selected a single stock from each state (plus one from D.C), and choices in some states are sparse, a few of our picks are best suited to investors comfortable with a higher degree of risk. This is not necessarily one of our 51 favorite stocks in the entire U.S., in other words.

Celgene by the Numbers

• Headquarters: Summit
• Share price: $133.68
• Market value: $104.4 billion
• Price-earnings ratio: 17

(Prices and data are as of June 22, 2017)

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Celgene is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and markets treatments for cancer and immunological diseases. Its blood-cancer drug Revlimid, at $6.9 billion in annual sales, accounted for 66% of overall revenues last year. The drug’s patents don’t expire until 2027, and the first generic version isn’t expected to hit the market until 2022. Due to increasing demand and little competition, Revlimid sales should hit $8.2 billion this year, says CFRA analyst Jeffrey Loo – a 19% annual gain that will help drive overall sales growth estimated at 18%

But Celgene also has a robust bench, which includes multiple myeloma drug Pomalyst and psoriasis drug Otezla. Also, there are 19 late-stage drug trials in the works over the next two years, and Celgene has more than $8 billion in cash on the balance sheet that analysts expect the firm to use to acquire promising smaller drug companies. Celgene executives say the company can achieve annual earnings and sales growth of 17% to 22% through 2020, targets that Loo believes are achievable. He rates the stock a “strong buy” with a 12-month price target of $156.