Top Health care Stocks for 2019

Investors should be eager and show some level of curiosity about the health care stocks that performed excellently in the course of 2019 in order to make better investing decisions for the coming year. Health care is one of the few economic segments where spending has risen faster than inflation. With health care bills soaring, individual investors may as well profit from the sector themselves. Even with a dramatic re-tooling of health care through “Medicare for All” proposals taking center stage in the 2020 election, cheap stocks still abound in this corner of the markets.

In this article, we will be reviewing some health care stocks that performed excellently.

CVS Health Corp. (ticker: CVS)

In the last quarter of 2018, CVS completed its acquisition of Aetna, in a move designed to diversify the company and construct a transformative health care player. Through the effort of value investors, shares of CVS were down in 2019 as the company tried to digest the $70 billion merger. The long-term plan to promote CVS Minute Clinic use for Aetna-insured patients cut costs and created boost margins for the Aetna division, while driving more foot traffic.

 Centene Corp. (CNC)

Although people would have thought the CVS-Aetna merger might have been deadly for smaller health insurers, Centene did just fine. This St. Louis-based health insurer has a niche focus on the uninsured and underinsured, including government-subsidized programs like Medicaid. Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion significantly expanded that addressable market, giving CNC a natural boost and making it one of the best health care stocks to buy in the year. Now discounted from its price a year ago, Wall Street expects revenue to jump 23% in 2019.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)

Johnson and Johnson was named as one of U.S. News’ 10 best stocks to buy for 2019: Johnson & Johnson is an unparalleled Steady Eddie-type stock useful in almost any portfolio. While broadly diversified among the medical devices, consumer and pharmaceutical divisions, it is the latter that constitutes 45% of overall sales, and is JNJ’s fastest-growing segment. Free cash flow exceeded $18 billion in 2018, and it’s this sort of reliable (and massive) cash generation that allows JNJ to keep its edge through research and development and acquisitions. It also helps finance regular stock buybacks and dividend payments.

AbbVie (ABBV)

Like CVS, AbbVie is suffering a post-merger hangover after its move in June 2019 to acquire Allergan (AGN), the maker of Botox, for $63 billion. Although the deal was merely announced, not approved and closed, it’s being done because AbbVie’s blockbuster drug, Humira, is going off-patent in the U.S. in 2023. Despite underperformance this year, insiders began snapping up shares as soon as ABBV stock hit the $67 level post-announcement, a bullish indicator showing that people actually running the company are putting their money where their mouths are. So-called chartists should wait until ABBV definitively hits bottom and starts rebounding, but with a forward price-earning ratio of 7.2 and a dividend of 6.4%, AbbVie shares also offer a compelling valuation now.

Investinport owns Johnson and Jonshon JNJ stocks and we do not plan to sell it anytime soon.