Betting on biotech during JPMorgan's big health-care conference pays off, history shows

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Buying the biotech ETF during JPMorgan's annual health-care conference, the industry's biggest gathering, has proven to be a profitable trade, according to research by the investment bank.

"Biotech has historically outperformed the broader market during The J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference," biotech analysts at the firm wrote in a note to clients ahead of the event, which will take place Jan. 9-12 in San Francisco.

In the past 16 years, the NYSE Arca Biotechnology index (BTK), which measures the performance of 30 biotechnology firms, has outperformed the by nearly 3 percent during JPMorgan's conference, research by the firm shows.

"We observed that the BTK has outperformed the S&P 500 during JPM week ~81 percent of the time (all but three years)," the report said.

NYSE Arca Biotechnology vs. S&P 500 (Performance during JPMorgan's health-care conference)


Source: JPMorgan

Investors often pay close attention to biotech companies presenting at the event as stock-moving information is often released, including earnings guidance and updates on drug developments.

(Editor's note: CNBC's Meg Tirrell will be interviewing some of the top CEOs from the conference next week, including Sarepta's Dr. Ed Kaye, exclusively for CNBC PRO.)

Here are some of the companies JPMorgan believes investors "can't miss" and the reasoning from analysts as to why those stocks could move.