In this article, we will look at the 11 Best Performing Healthcare Stocks to Buy Now.
Trump’s Healthcare Executive Order Brings a Win
On April 15, CNBC reported that President Trump’s healthcare-focused executive order brought in a win for the sector. Trump directed his health department to collaborate with Congress to revamp a law allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. The announcement seeks to bring a change that the pharmaceutical company has lobbied for. Since the negotiation process is included in legislation, Trump’s executive order cannot implement the change itself. However, it directs Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to join hands with Congress and change it.
CNBC reported that drug makers have been working to delay the eligibility timeline for small-molecule drugs to be available for price negotiations by four years. This typically includes pills and most medications. This goes hand in hand with the 13-year wait until more complex biotech drugs are eligible for Medicare price negotiations.
Trump’s wide-ranging executive order also focuses on slashing healthcare costs. It comes a day after the administration instituted a national security report on the pharma industry. CNBC called the report “a precursor to sector-specific tariffs.”
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Medicare’s negotiating powers have been a subject of contention, as drug makers have opined that they would suppress innovation and have rallied against the time frame for negotiation eligibility for most drugs. The law now allows the government to negotiate prices for drugs with no competition, which includes complex biotech or biologic medications after 13 years on the market, but 9 years for their administration as capsules and pills.
Although they did not provide specifics, White House officials told reporters that other changes to the negotiation process would yield more savings than those attained during the first round under the Biden administration. While the Biden administration negotiated price cuts as steep as 79% for the first ten most expensive drugs to the Medicare program, the Trump administration would negotiate prices for the following 15 medications. This includes Pfizer’s cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi, as well as Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.
With these trends in view, let’s look at the best performing healthcare stocks to invest in now.
A healthcare provider holding an MRI scan of a patient with a traumatic brain injury.
Our Methodology
We used Finviz to screen healthcare stocks and selected the best performers based on their year-to-date (YTD) performance, as of May 9, 2025. We also included the number of hedge fund holders for each stock as of Q4 2024. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is sorted in ascending order of year-to-date performance.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
11 Best Performing Healthcare Stocks to Buy Now
11. Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC)
YTD Performance: 34.40%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29
Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) offers a consumer-centric platform for delivering personalized healthcare solutions through its Medicare Advantage plans. The company also offers health options via its Alignment Health Plan. It ranks 11th on our list of the best-performing healthcare stocks to buy now.
In a report issued on May 1, Whit Mayo from Leerink Partners reiterated a Buy rating on Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) and set a price target of $20.00. The company’s positive financials in its latest earnings report have led to bullish investor sentiment, with revenue undergoing a notable 47.5% increase to $926.9 million in fiscal Q1 2025.
Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) also reported a 31.7% increase in Medicare Advantage membership, totaling around 217,500 members in the same quarter. Supported by robust enrollment growth and clinical performance, the company surpassed its high-end guidance on key performance indicators, raising the midpoint of its 2025 guidance. Alignment Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALHC) expects adjusted EBITDA between $10 million and $18 million in fiscal Q2 2025.
10. Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA)
YTD Performance: 36.35%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 42
Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes therapeutics for treating respiratory diseases with unmet medical needs. The FDA’s June 2024 approval of its drug Ohtuvayre to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was a significant catalyst for the company. Analysts project this blockbuster drug’s sales potential to top $1 billion by 2029.
On May 2, Wells Fargo analyst Tiago Fauth raised the firm’s price target on Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) to $107 from $93, keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. The analyst noted that the fiscal Q1 2025 Ohtuvayre sales of $71 million marked the third consecutive quarter of the drug tracking above Trelegy and Breztri, saying that this “easily justifies ~$3 billion in peak sales, with ~$5 billion+ being a real possibility.”
The analyst further said that Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) added an incremental $31 million and $35 million in fiscal Q4 2024 and fiscal Q1 2025, respectively, reflecting accelerating growth. This shows that there are reasons to believe in the company’s continually accelerating growth.
Roth Capital also raised the firm’s price target on Verona Pharma plc (NASDAQ:VRNA) to $92 from $83 on April 30, keeping a Buy rating on the stock after it reported fiscal Q1 2025 results.
