AbbVie Slips Below 50-Day SMA: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?

AbbVie ABBV stock slipped below its 50-day simple moving average (SMA) on March 13, after consistently trading above it since mid-Feb. However, the stock has remained comfortably above its 200-day SMA for more than six months.

When a stock slips below the 50-day SMA, it indicates an intermediate correction that could be due to lack of news flow . With the stock staying above the 200-day SMA, its long-term uptrend is still intact as its fundamentals are strong.

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Such a scenario can confuse investors about whether to buy the dip, exit the stock, or hold it based on long-term trends. Let’s examine the company’s strengths and weaknesses to better analyze how to play AbbVie stock in this situation.

ABBV’s Successful New Drugs — Skyrizi and Rinvoq

AbbVie lost patent protection for its blockbuster drug, Humira, in the United States in January 2023 and in the EU in 2018. Humira's sales are declining due to loss of exclusivity (LOE) and biosimilar erosion. AbbVie has successfully navigated the LOE of Humira, a drug that once generated more than 50% of its total revenues. It has accomplished this by launching two other successful new immunology medicines, Skyrizi and Rinvoq, which are performing extremely well, bolstered by approvals in new indications, and should support top-line growth in the next few years.

Skyrizi and Rinvoq generated combined sales of $26.0 billion in 2025, exceeding expectations and representing year-over-year growth of more than 40%. The drugs delivered strong performance across all approved indications, especially in the popular inflammatory bowel disease space, which includes two conditions — ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease. In 2026, AbbVie expects combined Skyrizi and Rinvoq sales of more than $31 billion.

Strong immunology market growth, market share gains and momentum from new indications, as well as the potential for five new indications for Rinvoq over the next few years, are expected to drive the drugs’ growth. Rinvoq could be approved for two indications — vitiligo and alopecia areata — in 2026. Phase III data on Rinvoq in hidradenitis suppurativa and systemic lupus erythematosus are expected this year. AbbVie believes that the next wave of potential approvals in Rinvoq could add roughly $2 billion to peak-year sales for the product.

AbbVie expects a low single-digit pricing headwind for both Skyrizi and Rinvoq in 2026 and over the next few years.

ABBV’s Oncology and Neuroscience Drug Contributions

AbbVie’s neuroscience portfolio is also contributing to top-line growth. Sales of its neuroscience drugs increased almost 20% to $10.8 billion in 2025, driven by higher sales of Botox Therapeutic, depression drug Vraylar and newer migraine drugs Ubrelvy and Qulipta.

The initial international launch uptake of Vyalev, a transformative therapy for treating advanced Parkinson’s disease, approved in late 2024, has been encouraging. AbbVie expects Vyaley to achieve blockbuster status in 2026, with sales expected to ramp up substantiallyin the United States, where Vyalev recently received full coverage. AbbVie’s Parkinson’s disease franchise, comprising Vyalev and once-daily oral treatment tavapadon (under review in the United States; FDA decision expected in the third quarter of 2026), is viewed as a key driver of growth in neuroscience.

AbbVie has built a substantial oncology franchise with Imbruvica and Venclexta. Its oncology segment generated combined revenues of $6.6 billion in 2025, up 1.5% year over year, as higher Venclexta sales and contributions from new drugs, Elahere and Epkinly, partially offset the decline in Imbruvica sales.

Some key oncology drugs approved in the past couple of years are Epkinly and Emrelis. Elahere was added to AbbVie’s oncology portfolio with the February 2024 acquisition of Immunogen. These three new drugs have strengthened AbbVie’s oncology franchise. Though oncology sales are slightly slowing down, AbbVie believes the oncology pipeline is robust with several study readouts and initiations expected this year.

Over the next couple of years, AbbVie expects new product approvals for tavapadon and pivekimab sunirine (blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm) and pivotal data readouts for key pipeline candidates, lutikizumab (hidradenitis suppurativa), Temab-A (metastatic colorectal cancer) and etentamig (third-line-plus multiple myeloma). These pipeline programs have the potential to drive long-term growth for AbbVie, while Skyrizi and Rinvoq will boost near-term growth.

AbbVie on an Acquisition Spree

AbbVie has been on an acquisition spree over the past couple of years to bolster the early-stage pipeline that should drive long-term growth. It is signing several M&A deals in the immunology space, its core area, while also signing some early-stage deals in oncology and neuroscience.

In 2025, AbbVie invested more than $5 billion to acquire innovative pipeline candidates. These include an in-vivo CAR-T platform in immunology from Capstan Therapeutics, bretisilocin, a next-generation psychedelic in depression; ISB-2001, a novel trispecific antibody for multiple myeloma; 295, a long-acting amylin analog for obesity and a next-generation siRNA platform from Arx.

ABBV’s Struggling Aesthetics Segment & Humira Erosion

Sales of Humira are declining due to biosimilar erosion. The launch of Humira biosimilars in the United States in 2023 significantly eroded the drug’s sales in 2024 and 2025. Humira sales declined around 50% in 2025. Humira sales are expected to continue to decline in 2026 as more plans exclude branded Humira and move to exclusive biosimilar contracts.

AbbVie’s Aesthetics unit is also experiencing declining sales due to continued macro challenges and weakened consumer sentiment. Global sales of the aesthetics portfolio declined 0.6% in 2024 and 5.9% in2025.

While Juvederm sales declined 15.6% in 2025, Botox Cosmetics sales deteriorated 4.1%. AbbVie expects the aesthetics category growth to remain challenged in 2026. Global aesthetics sales are projected to be $5 billion in 2026, flat year over year as moderate growth in Botox Cosmetic is likely to be offset by continued decline in Juvederm sales due to continued headwinds in key dermal filler markets.

ABBV Stock Price, Valuation and Estimate Revision

ABBV stock has risen 3.6% in the past year compared with an appreciation of 9.8% for the industry.

ABBV Stock Underperforms Industry

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From a valuation standpoint, AbbVie is reasonably priced. Going by the price/earnings ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 14.87 forward earnings, lower than 17.57 for the industry. However, the stock is trading above its five-year mean of 13.78. The stock is cheaper than other large drugmakers like AstraZeneca AZN, Eli Lilly LLY and J&J JNJ.

ABBV Stock Valuation

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The bottom-line estimate for 2026 has risen from $14.41 to $14.54 over the past 60 days, while that for 2027 has declined from $16.27 to $16.24 over the same time frame.

ABBV Estimate Movement

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Stay Invested in ABBV Stock

AbbVie combats its share of headwinds, including the impact of Humira LOE, increasing competitive pressure on Imbruvica and continued macro woes for Aesthetics. The company has faced its biggest challenge — Humira’s patent cliff — quite well and looks well-positioned for continued strong growth in the years ahead.

ABBV delivered robust net sales growth in 2025, which is just the second full year following the Humira LOE in the United States. AbbVie expects another year of robust growth in 2026. It expects total revenues to rise approximately 9.5% in 2026. The top-line growth is likely to be driven by continued strong increase in Skyrizi and Rinvoq sales, a substantial top-line ramp for Vyalev and continued double-digit revenue growth from migraine drugs, partially offset by headwinds from continued Humira erosion and the impact of lower IRA-related pricing on Imbruvica.

It expects high single-digit revenue growth through 2029, as the company has no significant LOE events for the rest of this decade. A substantial portion of this growth is expected to be driven by the robust performance of Skyrizi and Rinvoq. With no significant loss of exclusivity (LOEs) expected this decade, AbbVie has the flexibility to invest more in R&D and continue acquiring external innovations.

For ABBV, the drop below its 50-day SMA on March 13 signals short-term momentum weakness, but the fact that it has stayed above its 200-day SMA for over six months confirms a strong, intact long-term uptrend.

Long-term investors can continue to retain this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock in their portfolio.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

They may also consider buying on dips, while short-term traders should wait for the stock to reclaim the 50-day SMA before turning bullish again. A decisive break below the 200-day SMA would be the key risk signal.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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