The S&P 500 has remained red hot, achieving gains of nearly 15% through the first six months of 2024. Healthcare stocks have performed well, but not nearly to the same extent — the Healthcare Select Sector SPDR ETF has risen by 7% during the first half of this year.
Healthcare stocks may not generate as much excitement as other growth stocks, but there are some solid options that you can buy and hold, not just for the second part of the year, but for the long haul. Three healthcare stocks that have normally performed exceptionally well in the latter half of the calendar year are Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), and Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A). These stocks have averaged second-half returns of at least 13% over the past 10 years, and with strong fundamentals, it may not be a stretch for them to be good buys in the latter half of 2024 as well.
1. Intuitive Surgical
Intuitive Surgical has been one of the top growth stocks to own in the healthcare industry for years. The company’s robotic-assisted surgical devices are game changers for surgeons, allowing them to perform more difficult surgeries with greater precision. That has translated into impressive growth for the company over the years with its revenue topping $7.1 billion in 2023 — that’s more than 3 times the $2.1 billion it reported nearly a decade earlier in 2014. Not surprisingly, its profits have taken a similar trajectory, soaring from just under $420 million in 2014 to $1.8 billion this past year.
Historically, Intuitive Surgical has performed well during the second half of the year. Here are its returns over the past 10 years, during the period of July through to the end of December.
Year
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Average
Returns
28.4%
12.7%
(4.1%)
17%
0.1%
12.7%
43.6%
17.2%
32.2%
(1.3%)
15.9%
Data source: YCharts.
On average, the stock has generated solid returns of nearly 16%. There has been the odd year where it has incurred a negative return, but overall, it has been one of the better healthcare stocks to own in the second half. There’s nothing specifically to do…
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