Have $2,000? 2 Magnificent Stocks Ready for a Bull Run

Stocks across a range of industries and sectors have dealt with unique challenges over the last few years. While some companies are still dealing with the effects of a slowdown in growth following pandemic highs, it’s important to look at the underlying businesses and not just stock prices to see if a long-term buying proposition remains intact.

If you have $2,000 to invest in stocks right now, there are plenty of wonderful businesses begging to be bought. Here are two such names to consider for your buy basket right now, both of which the market has heavily discounted over the trailing 12 months.

1. Pfizer

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has had a significant adjustment as a business after the height of its successes during the pandemic from the COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, and oral antiviral medication, Paxlovid. While it was inevitable that there would be a steep sales cliff after the pandemic-era demand for these products waned, investor sentiment has not been kind to the stock in recent months.

Over the last year, the stock has declined by over 30%. Now, shares of Pfizer are trading at a price-to-sales multiple of around 2.6. While a low valuation in and of itself is never the sole reason you should purchase a stock, it’s definitely food for thought when you’re looking at one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies with a broad portfolio of medicines and considerable growth potential still to come.

There’s no denying that the momentum of COVID-19 products slowing has had a notable impact on Pfizer’s balance sheet. Still, Pfizer pulled in full-year revenue of just shy of $59 billion in 2023. And excluding COVID-19 products from the mix, its top line grew by a healthy 7% from the prior-year period, which is a solid growth rate for a business in this stage of maturity.

Pfizer was profitable in 2023 — net income according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) totaled $2.1 billion — but that was a steep decline from one year ago when 2022 net income came to…