Analysts at Bank of America predict a "big bang" for the European e-pharmacy sector, and name a couple of stocks they think will outperform, even if Amazon enters the market.
The analysts pointed to several trends set to give the online pharmacy market sector a boost, including a growing online market for pharmaceuticals, the introduction of electronic prescriptions and a demographic that is increasingly happy to use e-commerce sites.
They estimated the market in Western Europe (excluding the U.K.) will grow from 11 billion euros ($13.3 billion) in 2020, to 47 billion euros in 2030. A compound annual growth rate of 16% will also significantly outstrip the 2.5% rate expected for the pharmacy sector as a whole in the region.
And even though the analysts said there is a "significant" threat of Amazon launching an online drug store in Europe (the U.S. version launched in November), they named the stocks they believe already have the upper hand and will capitalize on the online drugs boom.
