The Best Stocks to Invest $40 in to Start the New Year Off Right

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) underperformed in 2025. Both companies encountered some issues, some of which may linger throughout this year.

However, these drugmakers still have a lot to offer. And given their underperformance over the trailing 12 months, now might be a particularly good time to buy their shares, especially as both trade below $40. Here’s why Pfizer and Viking Therapeutics are attractive stocks to buy right now.

In fairness, Pfizer didn’t just perform poorly in 2025. The past three years have been challenging for the pharmaceutical giant. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Pfizer is making moves that should allow it to improve its financial results down the line and overcome upcoming patent cliffs. The company has started running clinical trials, including late-stage studies, for a promising cancer medicine called PF-4404. Management sees this as a potential pipeline of drugs that will secure approvals across several forms of cancer.

Pfizer is also making strides in the weight management market. It now owns one of the more promising mid-stage assets in this area, MET-097i, following an acquisition it closed last year. These two candidates, PF-4404 and MET-097i, are only the tip of the iceberg.

The drug giant has a deep pipeline with products spanning oncology, immunology, vaccines, and more. Over the next several years, the drugmaker should earn at least a few important approvals. Further, the company has addressed a significant threat, that of tariffs, by signing a deal with the White House that will make it exempt from duties on imports for three years in exchange for selling some medicines at reduced prices in the U.S.

Pfizer may not rebound this year, but at current levels, the stock looks attractive for investors willing to stay the course. Over the next 10 years, the pharmaceutical giant could deliver superior returns.

Viking Therapeutics is a riskier stock. The company is a clinical-stage biotech — it currently has no product on the market. However, Viking’s leading candidate, VK2735, appears to be a promising weight-loss medicine. It is currently being investigated in phase 3 studies in a subcutaneous formulation. Viking is also developing an oral version of VK2735, which is in mid-stage trials.

The biotech company is taking a multi-pronged approach that could help differentiate its products from the competition. For instance, it is running a maintenance study on patients who have already lost weight with VK2735 to see if following up with the oral version, or with the same formulation but a different dosing schedule (weekly instead of monthly), will help them keep the weight off. This has been an issue, with many patients regaining much of their lost weight after stopping treatment.

Viking Therapeutics’ attempt to address that shortcoming, along with its development of an oral version of VK2735 alongside the subcutaneous formulation, tells us a lot about the biotech. Provided it can make solid clinical progress in the next two years, its shares will soar. But again, the stock is on the riskier side due to the potential of clinical and regulatory setbacks. Invest accordingly.

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Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pfizer. The Motley Fool recommends Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Best Stocks to Invest $40 in to Start the New Year Off Right was originally published by The Motley Fool