Got $500? 2 Healthcare Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever

I don't know if we'll be riding in personal aircraft 20 years from now, like George Jetson did in the cartoon TV series. I don't know if artificial intelligence (AI) will replace millions of jobs. But there's one thing I'm quite confident about: We'll still need healthcare products and services in the future, whether we're talking about 10 or 100 years from now.

The healthcare sector is an ideal place for long-term investors to focus their attention, in my view. The trick is to find the stocks of companies that have demonstrated an ability to adapt to changes over multiple decades and are well-positioned to succeed going forward.

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You won't need a fortune to get started investing in the healthcare sector. Got $500? Here are two healthcare stocks to buy and hold forever.

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1. Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) was founded in 1888. Today, it ranks among the world's most successful healthcare companies and has a market cap of $240 billion. You can buy two shares of Abbott for around $276 and still have plenty left from an initial $500 to buy the second stock on the list.

That $276 will give you exposure to multiple healthcare areas. Abbott is a major force in the medical devices market, with products including the MitraClip mitral valve transcatheter edge-to-edge repair system and the FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system. It's a top player in diagnostics, marketing products such as the Alinity family of diagnostic instruments.

The company is a leader in the nutritional products space, with top-selling brands including Ensure, PediaSure, and Similac. Abbott also operates a highly successful established pharmaceuticals business, marketing branded generic drugs such as Synthroid for treating hypothyroidism and biosimilars targeting cancer, women's health, and more indications.

This healthcare giant remains a nimble one. Abbott expects to grow its revenue in 2025 by 8% year over year at the midpoint of its guidance range. It's also continuing a long track record of innovation. For example, the company recently won the European CE Mark for the Volt PFA System for treating atrial fibrillation, and it's conducting a pivotal clinical trial for a new coronary intravascular lithotripsy system.

On top of all that, Abbott is a Dividend King. The company has increased its dividend for an impressive 53 consecutive years.

2. AbbVie

You might notice something similar about Abbott's and AbbVie's (NYSE: ABBV) names. That's no coincidence. Abbott spun off AbbVie as a separate business in 2013, but gave the new company a part of its name.

AbbVie has eclipsed the success of its parent. The big biopharmaceutical company sports a market cap of around $328 billion. It generated sales of $56.3 billion last year, versus less than $42 billion for Abbott. And with AbbVie's share price hovering around $185, you should be able to scoop up one share in addition to your two shares of Abbott and still have some cash left over.

The thing I like most about AbbVie is its resilience. In early 2023, the company lost U.S. exclusivity for its top-selling product, Humira. But AbbVie was well-prepared for this big blow. It had invested heavily in internal research and development, and made multiple acquisitions to bolster its pipeline.

Today, AbbVie's product lineup includes two successors to Humira, Rinvoq and Skyrizi, that should rake in combined sales of $31 billion by 2027. That's much higher than Humira's peak annual sales of around $22 billion.

Another thing I really like about AbbVie is its dividend. It inherited Abbott's streak of dividend increases and extended it. Since the 2013 spin-off, AbbVie has increased its dividend every year by a cumulative 310%. The company's forward dividend yield is a lofty 3.51%.

As an added bonus, the stock is relatively cheap. AbbVie's shares trade at only 15.2 times forward earnings. With more growth on the way from Rinvoq and Skyrizi, as well as other products, the stock's valuation is even more attractive.

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Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie and Abbott Laboratories. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.