Earlier on June 27, John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, appeared on CNBC to state that he remains bullish on equities and favours growthier value. Stoltzfus also recommended seeking out dividend growers rather than just dividend payers, where possible. He expressed a preference for US markets, maintaining an overweight position in US equities, but also retaining long-standing exposure to developed international and emerging markets. Overall, he viewed the current environment as favorable for equities, recommending an overweight allocation to stocks, with some exposure to fixed income for traditional diversification and current income.
Stoltzfus also explained his positive outlook on the consumer discretionary sector and attributed this to the remarkable resilience of the consumer coming from robust job market conditions and resilient businesses. Additionally, he dismissed the potential market risk associated with the idea of a shadow Fed president as a concern.
That being said, we’re here with a list of the 8 most profitable value stocks to buy according to analysts.
Our Methodology
We sifted through the Finviz stock screener and financial media reports to compile a list of the top companies with a TTM net income greater than $1 billion and a forward P/E ratio under 15. We then selected 8 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and had an upside potential of over 25%. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their upside potential. We have also added the hedge fund sentiment for each stock, as of Q1 2025, which was sourced from Insider Monkey’s database.
Note: All data was collected on July 29.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? 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 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
8 Most Profitable Value Stocks to Buy According to Analysts
8. Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)
TTM Net Income: $2.06 billion
Forward P/E Ratio as of July 29: 12.89
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64
Average Upside Potential as of July 29: 25.34%
Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) is one of the most profitable value stocks to buy according to analysts. On July 28, Truist lowered its price target on Centene to $35 from $42 but maintained a Buy rating on the shares following the company’s Q2 2025 results. Truist noted better performance in Centene’s Prescription Drug Plan/PDP and Medicare Advantage lines of business.
In Q2 2025, the company reported premium and service revenue of $42.5 billion, which contributed to total revenues of $48.7 billion. However, Centene reported an adjusted diluted loss per share of $0.16 for Q2 2025, which missed analyst expectations for a profit, and a GAAP diluted loss per share of $0.51. The Marketplace business also faced a $2.4 billion full-year headwind expected for 2025.
For 2026, Centene aims to reprice 100% of its book to improve profitability and focus on margin over membership. The company is also advocating for greater transparency and earlier data availability to improve market stability.
Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) is a healthcare enterprise that provides programs and services to under-insured and uninsured families, and commercial organizations in the US.
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