Published on: 2026-04-08
Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk remain central to the sector thesis as oral obesity therapies broaden the GLP-1 market beyond injectables.
Intuitive Surgical, Stryker, and Abbott offer clean exposure to ageing demographics and growth in procedures through robotics, orthopaedics, monitoring, and connected care.
Vertex and Regeneron are the higher-quality biotechnology names because each combines commercial strength with visible 2026 catalysts.
Tempus, Viking, and Recursion are the higher-beta ideas for investors seeking AI or next-wave obesity exposure, but they carry materially higher execution risk.
Source: FDA approval announcements and company investor relations disclosures, including earnings releases and product updates, as of April 2026; author’s analysis.
Big Pharma remains the foundation of a healthcare portfolio because it offers the best combination of revenue visibility, balance-sheet strength, and commercial execution. In 2026, that matters most in obesity, immunology, and oncology. Lilly leads the group because it is benefiting from both the existing injectable GLP-1 market and the newly approved oral category. Novo remains essential because obesity is still a two-company market at scale, even if competitive positioning has become more contested.
Merck belongs in this group for a different reason. Its appeal is less about explosive growth than franchise durability. KEYTRUDA QLEX strengthens administration convenience and helps extend the life of one of the most important oncology assets in the market. AbbVie rounds out the category as a large-cap recovery story that is increasingly defined by Skyrizi and Rinvoq rather than Humira erosion.
Stocks in this category: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Merck, AbbVie.
Medical devices may be the cleanest way to invest in the demographic ageing trend. These businesses are less dependent on binary drug approvals and more exposed to rising procedure volumes, hospital productivity, and recurring utilisation. That combination usually produces a steadier operating profile than more speculative parts of healthcare.
Intuitive Surgical remains the premier name in this category because da Vinci 5 appears to be a genuine upgrade cycle rather than a routine refresh. Stryker offers a similarly attractive setup through orthopaedics and Mako expansion. Abbott is more diversified, but that is precisely the attraction: it provides exposure to glucose monitoring, cardiovascular devices, and connected care in a single platform.
Stocks in this category: Intuitive Surgical, Stryker, Abbott Laboratories.
Healthcare services and insurance do not command the same attention as obesity drugs or AI discovery platforms, but they remain highly relevant in 2026. This is where scale, patient volumes, reimbursement discipline, and ownership of the care-delivery infrastructure become investable advantages.
UnitedHealth is the sector’s scale platform. HCA is the cleaner provider-side exposure, offering a straightforward way to participate in admissions and procedure growth. Tempus brings the innovation angle: it is one of the few listed healthcare AI businesses with a commercial diagnostics product already in the market.
Stocks in this category: UnitedHealth Group, HCA Healthcare, Tempus AI.
Biotechnology is still where the most asymmetric upside resides, but it is also where stock selection matters most. The category spans profitable, established innovators and earlier-stage companies whose valuation depends heavily on future milestones rather than current earnings.
Vertex leads the group because it offers an unusually balanced profile: real profitability, strong execution, and an expanding pipeline. Regeneron is the more commercially mature name, supported by fresh ophthalmology momentum. Viking is the obesity challenger with the clearest speculative appeal. Recursion remains the AI-enabled wildcard, with significant upside if platform progress translates into repeatable clinical and economic value.
Stocks in this category: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Regeneron, Viking Therapeutics, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals.
Viking Therapeutics (VKTX): the most direct high-beta obesity idea outside the two incumbents.
Tempus AI (TEM): the most investable AI-healthcare operating story, but still dependent on execution and valuation discipline.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX): an early platform bet on AI-enabled drug discovery with meaningful upside and equally meaningful uncertainty.
The dominant theme remains obesity treatment, particularly the expansion of GLP-1 therapy into oral formulations. That development matters because it can broaden the treated population, improve convenience, and support another leg of growth for the sector’s largest winners.
Big Pharma remains the most defensive part of the sector. Large-cap drug makers still offer the strongest mix of cash generation, product diversification, and earnings visibility, particularly compared with biotechnology or smaller AI-driven healthcare businesses.
Viking Therapeutics, Tempus AI, and Recursion best fit that description. All three sit in attractive thematic areas, but their investment cases depend more heavily on execution, adoption, and investor confidence than those of the large-cap healthcare leaders.
In many cases, yes. Device companies often provide steadier exposure to ageing populations because they benefit from growth in procedures, chronic-disease monitoring, and hospital demand, without relying on the binary outcomes that often define biotechnology investing.
The most compelling healthcare stocks for 2026 are not concentrated in a single subsector. The better approach is to combine the large-cap winners with durable earnings power, the device companies benefiting from demographic and procedural tailwinds, and a limited number of higher-upside biotechnology or AI names with identifiable catalysts.
Disclaimer: This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by EBC or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.
