The big healthcare stocks are not keeping up with wider stock market. When the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 recently popped to new highs, this sector vastly underperformed it. Itâs likely the problem has to do with much investor concern about cuts to Medicaid and other âbig beautiful billâ adjustments.
4 Healthcare Stocks (And The ETF) Fail To Keep Up
Healthcare Select Sector SPDR ETF:
The fund is way down from those October 2024 prices. The rally from mid-December 2024 to early March 2025 failed to make it above the previous autumnâs highs. The 200-day moving average is trending downward. Note that the 50-day moving average crossed below the 200-day in mid-December 2024. The ETF has 60 holdings in the sector.
Eli Lilly.
One of the old-school brand names in the group, Eli Lilly has been in business for 150 years. The drug maker focuses on cancer, immunology, diabetes and obesity, among other areas. The company recently acquired Verve Therapeutics, a Boston firm working on cardiovascular treatments.
The stock hit a peak in February of just above $930. It joined others dropping into April 7 where the price bottomed at near $675. A brief rally from there failed to close above a declining 200-day moving average and now Lilly trades under the 50-day moving average. Market cap is $732.48 billion.
Johnson & Johnson
With a market cap of $373.59 billion, the company is component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and of the S&P 500. Johnson & Johnson is a household name: itâs been around for 139 years. The price-earnings ratio is 17. The drug maker pays a dividend of 3.31%.
The stock reached a peak in early March of $168. Itâs been unable to recover to anywhere near that level following the early April sell-off. Todayâs closing price puts it above both the 50-day and the 200-day moving averages.
Abbvie
The North Chicago-based drug manufacturer recently purchased biotech firm Capstan for $2.1 billion. In May, Citigroup downgraded their opinion of AbbVie from âbuy” to âneutralâ with a price target of $205. In April, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage with an âoverweightâ tag, price targeted for $210. AbbVie pays a 3.47% dividend.
The price peaked in early March at near $216. The sell-off into early April was dramatic with a price drop to near $162.50. Todayâs close put it at just above the 50-day moving average and the 200-day moving average.
Amgen
Amgen hit a peak of just above $330 in early March. The stock tanked in early April along with the market as a whole but never made it back to the high. Right now, the price is slightly above a down-trending 200-day moving average. Fridayâs high could not quite make it above the June high near $300.
The drug manufacturer has a market cap of $157.52 billion. The Thousand Oaks, California-based company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. The stock trades with a price-earnings ratio of 26. Amgen pays a 3.29% dividend.
Stats courtesy of FinViz.com. Charts courtesy of Stockcharts.com.
No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this post.
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