5. Winner: Bayer

Company: Bayer
Symbol: BAY (Germany)
Beginning price: €51.05 ($66.10)
Ending price: €68.5 ($88.69)
Gain: 34.18%

While others whine about the patent cliff, Bayer is on a roll, impressing investors on several fronts. Its anticoagulant, Xarelto, is one of the shiny objects attracting attention. Bayer CEO Marijin Dekkers says he believes the warfarin-alternative drug can reach about $2.5 billion a year in sales. But Dekkers can point to other revenue-growing products as well. In fact, the CEO recently said that if you include potential sales of radium-223 dichloride (the late-stage prostate cancer drug Alpharadin) and riociguat to treat pulmonary hypertension, you'll easily tally up a plate of new products capable of producing about $7 billion in peak sales. And that is without factoring in the hot-selling eye drug, Eylea, and its newly approved cancer drug, Stivarga.

For more:
Bayer gambling $4B R&D budget on Xarelto, top blockbuster hopefuls
Europe adds new uses to Xarelto's marketing arsenal
 

5. Winner: Bayer
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