This Biotech Stock Could Be the Best Investment of the Decade

Source The Motley Fool

Picking stocks with a relatively narrow timeframe in mind -- and with a particular performance expectation -- can be tricky. Most investors can distinguish between bad, good, and even-better investment prospects. But it's impossible to know exactly how well a stock will perform, or when it will perform well. That's why Warren Buffett's favorite holding period is simply "forever."

However, every now and then, the proverbial planets line up. That is to say, it becomes clear that a company is on the cusp of massive and sustained growth, with its stock poised to follow suit.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue »

Iovance Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: IOVA) is one such company right now, entering a decade of incredible growth. Here's why aggressive investors might want to use the stock's recent weakness as a buying opportunity.

Iovance Biotherapeutics, up close and personal

Iovance isn't a household name... at least, not yet. With a market cap of only around $1 billion, it just doesn't turn many heads. Its current lack of profitability doesn't help stoke investor interest, either.

As veteran investors can attest, though, a company's size isn't nearly as important as its growth trajectory. That's where Iovance Biotherapeutics shines. Analysts exoect revenue to rise by more than 180%, to $762 million, this year, and then grow another 45%, to $1.1 billion, next year, pushing the biotech company out of the red and into the black in the process.

Chart showing Iovance Biotherapeutics' projected rise in revenue and earnings per share into 2027.

Data source: StockAnalysis.com. Chart by author.https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/iova/forecast/

This explosive growth comes with a critical footnote. The company's first-ever drug approval only materialized early last year. Specifically, its Amtagvi won an accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (or T-cell) immunotherapy for metastatic melanomas that didn't respond to PD-1 blocking antibodies, making it the first such permitted treatment for any solid tumor. The enormous year-over-year comparisons mostly just reflect the newness of the treatment option.

Still, there's a long growth runway ahead well beyond 2027's expected top line of $1.1 billion, and subsequent swing to a profit of $0.50 per share.

Leveraging a superior science

Like most other biopharma companies, this one isn't stopping with just the treatment of solid tumors that aren't responsive to PD-1 treatments. Amtagvi -- also called lifileucel -- is currently being tested in 12 different clinical trials. Some will likely work. Others probably won't. But all those efforts should show enough efficacy to make them worth their cost.

While the idea of customizing a patient's own immune cells to fight their particular cancer isn't new, it's a complicated process that's only recently become refined enough for approval. While hundreds are in development, there are only about a dozen approved T-cell drugs currently available to U.S. cancer patients, and only one tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte. That's Iovance's Amtagvi, underscoring how impressive the drug truly is.

Yet, immunotherapy is arguably the shining star of oncology's future. Industry research outfit Precedence Research believes the cancer immunotherapy market alone is set to grow at an average annual pace of 10.6% though 2034, when it will be worth $338 billion. For perspective, the entirety of the oncology market right now is in the ballpark of $200 billion. Driving much of this incredible growth is the fact that immunotherapies are considerably more expensive than most first-line treatment options are at this time, since each cancer patient's cancer treatment is tailor-made.

Iovance Biotherapeutics won't be the only player in the immunotherapy space, or even the biggest. It will be an important player within this space, though, given that it already has the lead within the tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte sliver of the tumor market, with several other clinical trials of the proven drug already underway.

The time is now

All this begs the question: If this biotech company's know-how is so compelling and marketable, why is the stock dancing with new multiyear lows after falling more than 90% from its early 2021 peak?

It's not quite as outrageous as it seems to be on the surface, if you understand how many stocks of up-and-coming biopharma companies trade.

To put it simply, this stock's poor performance since 2021 is mainly due to its exceptional performance in 2019 and 2020. That's when Amtagvi's potential approval first began to firm up, particularly in light of the FDA's willingness to designate it as a breakthrough therapy for cervical cancer. This designation accelerates a drug's regulatory review process when the agency feels a new, better treatment option is needed. It's also an unspoken vote of confidence in the therapy's underlying T-cell science.

However, market enthusiasm outpaced the likely extent and timing of commercialization. Shares have been correcting this mistake ever since.

Except, in the same way the bulls were overzealous then, the selling since 2021 has taken on a self-sustaining life of its own, causing the bears to overshoot their downside target.

This selling also seems to have finally run its full course as well. While near a new multiyear low, the sellers don't seem ready or willing to push this ticker below 2023's low, when things weren't nearly as promising for Iovance Biotherapeutics as they are now. This may be a sign that the tide is finally taking a slow turn for the better, reflecting the company's rapidly improving fundamentals.

This might help. Despite this stock's lingering lethargy, the analyst community isn't discouraged. Most of them currently rate Iovance stock as a strong buy, and their consensus price target of $20.55 is more than 500% above the stock's present price. That's not a bad way to start out a new 10-year position in this beaten-down name.

Should you invest $1,000 in Iovance Biotherapeutics right now?

Before you buy stock in Iovance Biotherapeutics, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Iovance Biotherapeutics wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $524,747!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $622,041!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 153% for the S&P 500. Don’t miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 14, 2025

James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Iovance Biotherapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
placeholder
AUD/USD: Current price action is likely the early stages of a recovery – UOB GroupAustralian Dollar (AUD) is likely to trade in a sideways range between 0.6220 and 0.6290. In the longer run, current price action is likely the early stages of a recovery phase that could potentially reach 0.6350, UOB Group’s FX analysts Quek Ser Leang and Lee Sue Ann note.
Author  FXStreet
Jan 22, Wed
Australian Dollar (AUD) is likely to trade in a sideways range between 0.6220 and 0.6290. In the longer run, current price action is likely the early stages of a recovery phase that could potentially reach 0.6350, UOB Group’s FX analysts Quek Ser Leang and Lee Sue Ann note.
placeholder
Five bullish Shiba Inu (SHIB) Price Predictions for April 2025SHIB price targets diverge as investors weigh Shibarium L3 upgrades, burn-rate surges, and altcoin market sentiment. Forecasts range from a conservative $0.000012 to a parabolic $0.00030.
Author  FXStreet
Apr 16, Wed
SHIB price targets diverge as investors weigh Shibarium L3 upgrades, burn-rate surges, and altcoin market sentiment. Forecasts range from a conservative $0.000012 to a parabolic $0.00030.
placeholder
Ethereum Price Stays Resilient — Upside Break May Be AheadEthereum price started a downside correction below the $1,780 level. ETH is now consolidating near the $1,800 zone and might aim for a move above $1,820.
Author  NewsBTC
Yesterday 03: 52
Ethereum price started a downside correction below the $1,780 level. ETH is now consolidating near the $1,800 zone and might aim for a move above $1,820.
placeholder
Gold price slides back closer to $3,300 amid tariff deals optimismGold price (XAU/USD) struggles to capitalize on the previous day's bounce from the vicinity of the $3,265-3,260 pivotal support and attracts fresh sellers during the Asian session on Tuesday.
Author  FXStreet
20 hours ago
Gold price (XAU/USD) struggles to capitalize on the previous day's bounce from the vicinity of the $3,265-3,260 pivotal support and attracts fresh sellers during the Asian session on Tuesday.
placeholder
EUR/USD ticks lower despite uncertainty over US-China tradeEUR/USD edges lower to near 1.1400 during European trading hours on Tuesday. The major currency pair ticks lower as the US Dollar (USD) steadies, but remains broadly on edge amid escalating uncertainty about the trade outlook between the United States (US) and China.
Author  FXStreet
18 hours ago
EUR/USD edges lower to near 1.1400 during European trading hours on Tuesday. The major currency pair ticks lower as the US Dollar (USD) steadies, but remains broadly on edge amid escalating uncertainty about the trade outlook between the United States (US) and China.
goTop
quote