Best Healthcare Stocks Right Now

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Contributor, Benzinga
December 21, 2024

Cigna (NYSE:CI)

Cigna primarily provides pharmacy benefit management and health insurance services. Its PBM services were greatly expanded by its 2018 merger with Express Scripts and are mostly sold to health insurance plans and employers. Its largest PBM contract is the Department of Defense. With a current price-to-earnings ratio of 9.25, Cigna mostly serves employers through self-funding arrangements. Recently, Cigna fell 9% in the last week, right before beating earnings for the second quarter.

$276.92
2.12[0.77%]
Quote.Price.last-update: Dec 20, 4:34 PM (Delayed 15-Minutes)
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Open276.600Close276.920
Vol / Avg.3.481M / 1.946MMkt Cap77.026B
Day Range273.260 - 280.37052 Wk Range262.030 - 370.825

Teladoc Health (NYSE:TDOC)

Teladoc Health is a virtual health provider with a telehealth platform delivering 24-hour, on-demand healthcare via mobile devices, the Internet, video, and phone. It also offers remote patient monitoring programs for chronic care management. Its platform connects members with a network of physicians and behavioral health professionals. This past quarter, Teladoc posted a 56.5% growth in earnings, as well as 108.7% revenue growth, displaying a much higher growth rate than its competitors. Teladoc ended up being one of the biggest pandemic winners as it combined technology with healthcare and communication services.

$9.44
0.47[5.24%]
Quote.Price.last-update: Dec 20, 7:52 PM (Delayed 15-Minutes)
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Open8.750Close9.440
Vol / Avg.6.421M / 5.469MMkt Cap1.630B
Day Range8.750 - 9.49052 Wk Range6.760 - 22.540

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With almost 50% market share by volume of the global insulin market, Novo Nordisk is the leading provider of diabetes-care products in the world. Based in Denmark, the company manufactures and markets a variety of human and modern insulins, injectable diabetes treatments, and oral antidiabetic agents. Novo also has a biopharmaceutical segment (constituting roughly 15% of revenue) that specializes in protein therapies for hemophilia and other disorders.

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United Insurance Holdings Corp is a holding company primarily engaged in the residential and commercial property and casualty insurance business in the United States. The company sources write and service residential and commercial property and casualty insurance policies using a network of agents and four wholly-owned insurance subsidiaries. The company offers structure, content, and liability coverage for standard single-family homeowners, renters, and condominium unit owners, as well as dwelling fire policies. It also provides commercial multi-peril property insurance. In addition, it offers flood, equipment breakdown, and identity theft policies.

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Roche Holding (OTCQX:RHHBY)

Roche is a Swiss biopharmaceutical and diagnostic company. The firm’s best-selling pharmaceutical products include a variety of oncology therapies from acquired partner Genentech, and its diagnostics group was bolstered by the acquisition of Ventana in 2008. Oncology products account for 50% of pharmaceutical sales, and centralized and point-of-care diagnostics for more than half of diagnostic-related sales.

$34.50
0.26[0.76%]
Quote.Price.last-update: Dec 20, 4:03 PM (Delayed 15-Minutes)
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Open34.320Close34.500
Vol / Avg.1.251M / 1.128MMkt Cap219.914B
Day Range34.290 - 34.67052 Wk Range29.200 - 42.430

The healthcare sector encompasses two main industry groups. The first includes companies that manufacture healthcare equipment and supplies or provide healthcare-related services, including distributors of healthcare products, providers of basic healthcare services and owners and operators of healthcare facilities and organizations. The second group of companies is primarily involved in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products. This sector includes some of the world’s most well-known and largest companies, such as CVS Health, Moderna, Pfizer, and UnitedHealth Group. Healthcare stocks can be a great investment.

Stocks in the healthcare sector, which are holistically represented by the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), have broadly outperformed the market as XLV has provided investors with a 1-year daily return of over 8%.

Here are the top healthcare stocks with the highest growth, greatest value, strongest momentum and most searches on Google.

Quick Look at the Best Healthcare Stocks:

Overview

The healthcare sector includes a broad range of companies like hospitals, pharmaceuticals, insurance agencies and medical equipment manufacturers. Most of these services are in operation 24/7, so these stocks can expose your portfolio to industries that operate throughout the year, uninterrupted. 

Medical companies have stepped up research and development to find a vaccine in response to the pandemic. While major industries like banking, airlines and oil have been dumped by investors, several healthcare stocks have gained billions in capital to manufacture virus testing kits, personal protective equipment and ventilators to be distributed to hard-hit countries around the globe. 

Best Online Brokers for Healthcare Stocks

You can track and trade the top healthcare stocks on major stock exchanges with an online broker. These innovative online platforms equip you with powerful tools to elevate your trading experience. If you are new to investing, we suggest browsing through these stocks under $20.

Take a look at these online brokers to get started. 

Features to Look for in Healthcare Stocks

  1. Earnings per share: The earnings per share (EPS) of each stock is a good indication of the company’s profitability. EPS is calculated by taking the net income of the company and divided by the total number of its outstanding shares. A higher EPS means you stand to gain that much more from your investment. 
  1. Yearly revenue: Companies generally publish reported earnings and revenue at the end of each quarter and at the end of the fiscal year. Compare the yearly revenue generated by each stock to assess its growth and potential returns. 
  1. Medical innovations: Healthcare companies constantly research and develop new and improved ways to provide all types of care. Seek out information about medical breakthroughs that distinguish a healthcare company from its competitors before you invest.   

Fortify Your Financial Health

Healthcare companies like hospitals and pharmaceuticals always operate in full swing. These stocks are not subjected to business cycles and can shield your assets when your other investments are going through a rough patch.    

Looking for healthcare stocks by price? Check out the pages below.

Looking at stocks by industry? Review our other guides.

Don’t know where to start? Find a broker using Benzinga’s best brokerage guide.

Q

Is it good to invest in healthcare right now?

A

Experts predict that healthcare stocks will increase 6% annually until at least 2025, so it is a good idea to invest in healthcare.

Q

Why not invest in healthcare?

A

Healthcare companies have large upfront development expenses which can reduce profitability.

Q

What is the largest healthcare stock?

A

The largest healthcare stock is UnitedHealth.