Piper lists eight defensive biotechs to face market volatility

With market volatility becoming a common phenomenon, Piper Sandler showcased eight "high-quality" defensive growth stocks in the biopharma space this week. Its comments came after a global sell-off of equities erased 3% from the S&P 500 on Monday following a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

While the benchmark index recovered as the week progressed, Piper analyst Christopher Raymond and the team noted that the biopharma industry is largely immune to macro headwinds as many treatments enjoy demand elasticity. 

"With current global market turmoil simultaneously resulting in a broad sell-off and arguably increasing the chances of earlier rate cuts, we think it makes sense to own a basket of high-quality defensive growth stocks," the team added.

To that end, analysts recommend biopharma companies with durable and high-growth prospects, largely de-risked assets, and recession-proof businesses. Piper's coverage universe includes the following eight defensive biotechs.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY), argenx (NASDAQ:ARGX), BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX), BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:BMRN), Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX), Cytokinetics (CYTK), Legend Biotech (LEGN), and Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT)

The brokerage has Overweight ratings on all stocks, with their per-share price targets at $296, $553, $20, $107, $26, $107, $90, and $205, respectively.