Sectors & IndustriesHealthcareDrug Manufacturers - General

Best General Drug Manufacturer Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top general drug manufacturer stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +28.50% per year, and are the best general drug manufacturer stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best general drug manufacturer stocks to buy right now are:

Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) is the #1 top general drug manufacturer stock out of 20 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) is: Value: A, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: B.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) has a Due Diligence Score of 50, which is 14 points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 36.

BMY passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Bristol Myers Squibb Co has seen its stock return 22.04% over the past year, underperforming other general drug manufacturer stocks by -21 percentage points.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co has an average 1 year price target of $64.00, an upside of 10.1% from Bristol Myers Squibb Co's current stock price of $58.13.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 13 analysts covering Bristol Myers Squibb Co, 38.46% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 7.69% have issued a Buy, 53.85% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) is the #2 top general drug manufacturer stock out of 20 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +28.5% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: B, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: B, and AI: B.

Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) has a Due Diligence Score of 62, which is 26 points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 36.

LLY passed 25 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Eli Lilly & Co has seen its stock return 55.77% over the past year, overperforming other general drug manufacturer stocks by 13 percentage points.

Eli Lilly & Co has an average 1 year price target of $1,247.53, an upside of 2.77% from Eli Lilly & Co's current stock price of $1,213.91.

Eli Lilly & Co stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 15 analysts covering Eli Lilly & Co, 73.33% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 20% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 6.67% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Abbvie (NYSE:ABBV) is the #3 top general drug manufacturer stock out of 20 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +17.17% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Abbvie (NYSE:ABBV) is: Value: C, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Abbvie (NYSE:ABBV) has a Due Diligence Score of 26, which is -10 points lower than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 36. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates ABBV as a "B".

ABBV passed 9 out of 38 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Abbvie has seen its stock return 36.87% over the past year, underperforming other general drug manufacturer stocks by -6 percentage points.

Abbvie has an average 1 year price target of $257.09, a downside of -1.52% from Abbvie's current stock price of $261.07.

Abbvie stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 11 analysts covering Abbvie, 63.64% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 18.18% have issued a Buy, 18.18% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 14 general drug manufacturer stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 general drug manufacturer stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) has an annual dividend yield of 5.3%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 2.79%. Pfizer's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Pfizer's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Pfizer's dividend payout ratio of 131.3% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) has an annual dividend yield of 4.32%, which is 2 percentage points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 2.79%. Bristol Myers Squibb Co's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Bristol Myers Squibb Co's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co's dividend payout ratio of 70% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) has an annual dividend yield of 4.09%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 2.79%. Sanofi's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Sanofi's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Sanofi's dividend payout ratio of 58.1% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

General drug manufacturer stocks were up 3.02% in the last day, and up 6.4% over the last week. Astrazeneca was the among the top gainers in the drug manufacturers - general industry, gaining 6.14% yesterday.

AstraZeneca shares are trading higher after the company announced it entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with Abbisko Therapeutics to jointly advance the clinical development of a novel IO-TKI combination therapy for non-small cell lung cancer. The company and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group entered into an agreement to use the siRNA drug discovery platform to develop novel small nucleic acid drug candidates.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued general drug manufacturer stocks right now are:

Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) is the most undervalued general drug manufacturer stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Biogen has a valuation score of 71, which is 42 points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 29. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Biogen's stock has gained 62.26% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the general drug manufacturer industry by 20 percentage points.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) is the second most undervalued general drug manufacturer stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co has a valuation score of 29, which is 0 points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 29. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co's stock has gained 22.04% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the general drug manufacturer industry by -21 percentage points.

Gsk (NYSE:GSK) is the third most undervalued general drug manufacturer stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Gsk has a valuation score of 29, which is 0 points higher than the general drug manufacturer industry average of 29. It passed 2 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Gsk's stock has gained 39.34% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the general drug manufacturer industry by -3 percentage points.

53.85% of general drug manufacturer stocks rated by analysts are a buy right now. On average, analysts expect general drug manufacturer stocks to rise by 2.99% over the next year.

12.5% of general drug manufacturer stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 31.25% of general drug manufacturer stocks are rated B (Buy), 50% are rated C (Hold), 6.25% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).