We recently published a list of 8 High Growth UK Stocks to Invest In. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) stands against other high growth UK stocks to invest in.
According to a KPMG report, the United Kingdom’s GDP growth is projected to slow in the second half of 2024 but is expected to rise slightly to 1.2% in 2025. This growth will likely be driven by a less restrictive monetary policy and ongoing improvements in real wages, which could boost consumption and business investment. However, in the longer term, GDP growth may be limited to around 1.1% per year due to historically slow productivity growth.
UK inflation is forecasted to rise to 3% by early 2025, after dropping below 2%, this increase is attributed to the ongoing economic recovery and the impact of interest rate cuts on the economy. The Bank of England is expected to take a cautious approach to easing monetary policy, with the base rate expected to reach 3.5% by the end of 2025. This indicates that the central bank will be careful not to overstimulate the economy, in order to avoid overheating and inflationary pressures.
UK consumers have been saving a larger portion of their income, which may continue to limit spending growth. While some of this increase in savings could reverse as interest rates fall, a significant portion is likely to remain, driven by long-term demographic trends and heightened caution in response to a more volatile economic environment. In terms of investment, the forecast predicts that overall investment growth will accelerate as further interest rate cuts reduce the burden on business investment.
UK Equities: Attractive Investment Opportunity
Nannette Hechler-Fayd’herbe, Chief Information Officer in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank specializing in wealth and asset management, in an interview on Bloomberg, shared her perspectives on the current investment landscape, emphasizing the importance of spreading investment risk more broadly across multi-asset portfolios. Hechler-Fayd’herbe expresses her affinity for UK equities, citing their attractive valuations and sector composition.
She notes that UK equities are trading at forward price-to-earnings ratios similar to those of emerging markets, making them an appealing investment opportunity. The UK equity index, in particular, offers a favorable exposure to the energy sector, which is poised to benefit from a better-than-expected global economy. Additionally, in the event of geopolitical escalation, the energy sector is likely to benefit from higher prices, making it an attractive hedge.
Hechler-Fayd’herbe highlights the sector composition of the UK equity market as a key factor in its appeal. The market’s exposure to the energy sector, combined with its relatively lower volatility and higher dividend yields compared to European equities, makes it an attractive investment opportunity. She also notes that the UK equity market’s dividend yield is more attractive compared to European equities, providing a more stable source of income for investors.
Hechler-Fayd’herbe believes that the Bank of England’s interest rate cuts would potentially lead to a rally in UK equities. Overall, Hechler-Fayd’herbe’s comments suggest that UK equities offer an attractive combination of value, income, and sector composition, making them a compelling investment opportunity in the current market environment.
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the 8 high-growth UK stocks to invest in, we used the Finviz and Yahoo stock screeners to find the 60 largest companies in the UK. We then narrowed our choices to 8 stocks with the highest 5-year revenue growth. We also included their hedge fund sentiment, which was taken from our database of 912 elite hedge funds as of Q2 of 2024. The list is sorted in ascending order of their of their revenue growth.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Bicycle Therapeutics (BCYC): High-Growth UK Stock with Innovative Peptide Technology
A medical researcher examining a toxon conjugate under a microscope in a laboratory setting.
Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of medicines based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide technology. The company’s therapeutic molecules called “bicycles” are smaller, more stable, and cheaper to produce than monoclonal antibodies, which are laboratory-produced protein that acts like an antibody in the body’s immune system and are used for the diagnosis and treatment of many diseases, including some types of cancer.
Bicycle Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:BCYC) core technology is based on the discovery of “bicycles” which are small peptides that can be used to target specific molecules in the body. These peptides are designed to be more stable and have a higher affinity for their targets than traditional monoclonal antibodies.
Bicycle Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ:BCYC) pipeline includes several promising molecules in various stages of development. The company’s lead internal program is BT8009, a bicycle toxin conjugate (BTC) molecule that targets tumors overexpressing Nectin-4. BT8009 is currently in a phase 1/2 trial and a phase 2/3 registrational trial. The company’s second candidate is BT5528, which targets high EphA2-expressing tumors and is in phase 1/2 development. The third clinical-stage internal program is BT7480, another Nectin-4/CD137 dual-targeting molecule in phase 1/2 trials.
BT8009 has shown promising efficacy data in an ongoing phase 1/2 trial in heavily pre-treated patients with metastatic urothelial cancer. The molecule demonstrated a 38% objective response rate (ORR) among 26 patients receiving a 5 mg/m2 weekly dose. The median duration of response was 11.1 months in 10 patients, with five still undergoing therapy. BT8009 also showed promising early results in other cancers, such as ovarian, triple-negative breast, and non-small cell lung cancer.
BT5528 is another BTC molecule that targets EphA2, a receptor tyrosine kinase overexpressed in difficult-to-treat tumors. BT5528 has shown promising efficacy data in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer, achieving a 39% objective response rate (ORR) among 18 patients who received doses of 6.5 mg/m2, 8.5 mg/m2, or 10 mg/m2 every other week. The median duration of response was four months among seven patients.
Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) has over 344 patents and 567 patent applications in various jurisdictions. Their patent portfolio consists of novel scaffolds and linkers, platform technology, bicyclic peptides, and related conjugates. Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) is an attractive company due to its promising pipeline, and extensive portfolio. The company’s technology has shown differentiated safety profiles and efficacy data in various cancers. With a consensus Buy rating from industry analysts, the stock has a target price of $39.27, which represents a 38.97% upside potential from its current level.
Overall, BCYC ranks 2nd on our list of high growth UK stocks to invest in. While we acknowledge the potential of BCYC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BCYC but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
