We recently published a list of Billionaire Ken Fisher’s 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) stands against other Billionaire Ken Fisher’s healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential.
The healthcare industry, an essential component of global well-being and economic resilience, is undergoing significant changes. The industry, which is thought to account for more than 10% of the world’s GDP, is set to enter a new era characterized by demographic shifts, digital innovation, and regulatory realignment. Stakeholders in the life sciences, diagnostics, and healthcare services ecosystem face a conundrum as of 2025: stability is threatened by ongoing financial strain, growing operational complexity, and geopolitical risks, despite the abundance of growth opportunities.
Healthcare earnings in the U.S. are still under pressure. EBITDA as a percentage of national health spending has dropped by 150 basis points since 2019, which has a significant impact on both payers and providers, according to McKinsey. The World Health Organization projects that there will be a 10-million-person shortage of healthcare workers worldwide by 2030, limited reimbursement growth, and high inflationary prices. At the same time, digital transformation has gained importance. According to Deloitte, 90% of executives in global health systems anticipate a faster adoption of digital technology, and over 70% of them intend to increase operational efficiency in 2025.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of this change. AI, which was once aspirational, is now a disruptive force that improves everything from medical diagnosis to hospital logistics. AI is seen by EU institutions as essential to the modernization of public health. The European Health Data Space (EHDS), which will be launched in 2025, and the European Commission’s 2024 AI Act aim to guarantee that AI technologies are reliable and safe, while facilitating access to high-quality, interoperable health data. These frameworks provide patients and developers with legal protection by simplifying liability standards for flawed AI systems, in conjunction with the revised Product Liability Directive.
However, issues remain. Integrating AI into clinical operations necessitates consistent funding, cultural acceptance, and regulatory clarity. Bias in data, ethical considerations, and the complexity of agentic AI solutions—tools that work autonomously to perform multi-step healthcare processes—require careful management. Despite these challenges, practical applications are gaining traction: AI is currently used in early sepsis identification, breast cancer screening, and pharmaceutical R&D, with the potential to shorten medication development timelines and improve patient outcomes.
Meanwhile, recent geopolitical developments are casting a shadow on global healthcare supply networks. In April 2025, President Donald Trump announced substantial tariffs, including a 10% baseline and targeted taxes on medical devices, which might disrupt access to vital inputs like diagnostic tools and protective equipment. “What Trump unveiled Wednesday is stupid, wrong, arrogantly extreme, and ignorant trade-wise,” said billionaire investor Ken Fisher in a harsh indictment of the proposal. Furthermore, Morningstar and Fitch analysts warn of rising expenses for hospitals, which are already dealing with low margins and restricted pricing options.
These changes—technological, legislative, and geopolitical—occur against a backdrop of cautious optimism. While GDP growth in the United States is predicted to drop from 2.7% in 2024 to 1.5% in 2025, the healthcare industry remains strong. As AI integration deepens, policy clarity emerges, and investment cycles reset, the industry may be poised for a new era of growth.
Methodology
To create our list of Billionaire Ken Fisher’s 10 Healthcare Stock Picks with Massive Upside Potential, we looked at Ken Fisher’s Q4 2024 13F SEC filings to find healthcare stocks in his portfolio. We then chose the ten stocks with the highest upside potential based on average analyst price forecasts, as of the time of writing this article. The equities were then sorted in ascending order of predicted upside. This strategy highlights the most promising healthcare investments in Fisher’s existing portfolio. Furthermore, hedge fund sentiment was also laid out for these stocks, as of Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database.
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).
A healthcare worker in a lab coat, holding a microscope and reflecting on the diagnosis of a patient.
Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS)
Upside Potential: 38.71%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 48
With operations in more than 165 countries, Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) is a multifaceted international healthcare organization with its headquarters located in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In important therapeutic areas like cardiovascular, central nervous system, infectious diseases, and oncology, it provides a broad selection of prescription brands, generics, complicated generics, and biosimilars. The company has a robust worldwide distribution network that includes retail and institutional pharmacies, e-commerce platforms, and specialized channels, and it has a portfolio of well-known products like EpiPen, Lipitor, Celebrex, and Viagra.
Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) generated $14.7 billion in total revenue for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, which is a 2% increase on an operational basis adjusted for divestitures. Adjusted EPS was $2.65, and adjusted EBITDA was $4.7 billion. With costs associated with divestitures excluded, free cash flow was $2.6 billion. Viatris achieved its long-term gross leverage goal of 2.9x by retiring $3.7 billion in debt and returning about $825 million to shareholders.
The company anticipates a $500 million short-term sales hit in 2025 as a result of remediation work at its Indore factory, which includes a $385 million EBITDA headwind. Strong momentum is still present in emerging markets as well as core markets like China and Europe. As a result of more than 150 anticipated worldwide product launches, including sophisticated injectables like Octreotide and Iron Sucrose, Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) anticipates $450–$550 million in new product sales.
With six readouts anticipated this year and ten distinct Phase 3 compounds, the R&D pipeline is still strong. Selatogrel, cenerimod, and sotagliflozin—three important novel assets—are making steady progress. Supported by a robust anticipated free cash flow of $2 billion, the company anticipates over $1 billion in capital returns in 2025 through dividends and share repurchases.
Viatris Inc. (NASDAQ:VTRS) continues to be a key holding in Ken Fisher’s stock portfolio due to its capital discipline, operational execution, and developing pipeline, indicating long-term investor confidence in its approach.
Overall, VTRS ranks 5th on our list of Billionaire Ken Fisher’s healthcare stock picks with massive upside potential. While we acknowledge the potential of these companies, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VTRS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Hedge Fund Resource Center