We recently compiled a list of the Why These 15 Healthcare Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Akero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKRO) stands against the other healthcare stocks.
The healthcare sector is staging a comeback so far in 2025 after two years of underperformance. These stocks could get even hotter due to AI. The healthcare sector was a hot topic during the Stargate project announcement, so it is likely that there are going to be even more breakthroughs here as technology advances.
The S&P 500 Healthcare Index trailed the broader market considerably in the past few years. However, it has risen 7% year-to-date so far. There are many promising drugs awaiting approvals and trials right now. As such, healthcare EBITDA is projected to grow at a 7% CAGR, reaching $987 billion by 2028.
The sector is bouncing back from post-pandemic challenges. Nearly 60% of industry leaders expressed a favorable outlook for 2025. Thus, it is worth looking at the healthcare stocks spearheading the gains.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the top-performing healthcare stocks year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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).
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Akero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKRO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 30
Akero Therapeutics Inc is a biotech company that makes treatments for metabolic diseases.
The stock has delivered stellar gains so far in 2025 as 39% of patients receiving its drug achieved ≥1 stage improvement in liver fibrosis without worsening of MASH at 96 weeks. This is compared to 15% for placebo.
The results were consistent across both completer analysis and intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis.
The drug seems to have a good safety profile with no deaths in the EFX group and manageable gastrointestinal side effects. This could be a first-in-class therapy for MASH-induced cirrhosis.
It completed an upsized public offering in January and raised $402.5 million by selling 6.4 million shares at $48 each.
The consensus price target of $75.86 implies 41.04% upside.
AKRO stock is up 94.03% year-to-date.
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This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.
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