Sectors & IndustriesHealthcare

Best Healthcare Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top healthcare stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Due Diligence Score. See the best healthcare stocks to buy now, according to analyst forecasts for the healthcare sector.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best healthcare stocks to buy right now are:

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) is the #1 top healthcare stock out of 1081 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) is: Value: A, Growth: B, Momentum: B, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: A, and AI: C.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IRWD) has a Due Diligence Score of 40, which is 14 points higher than the healthcare sector average of 26. It passed 13 out of 33 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has seen its stock return 137.63% over the past year, overperforming other healthcare stocks by 191 percentage points.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals has an average 1 year price target of $6.50, an upside of 41% from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals's current stock price of $4.61.

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 50% have issued a Buy, 50% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Bioventus (NASDAQ:BVS) is the #2 top healthcare stock out of 1081 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Bioventus (NASDAQ:BVS) is: Value: A, Growth: B, Momentum: C, Sentiment: A, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Bioventus (NASDAQ:BVS) has a Due Diligence Score of 30, which is 4 points higher than the healthcare sector average of 26. It passed 10 out of 33 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Bioventus has seen its stock lose -16.86% over the past year, overperforming other healthcare stocks by 36 percentage points.

Bioventus has an average 1 year price target of $13.00, an upside of 51.52% from Bioventus's current stock price of $8.58.

Bioventus stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering Bioventus, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 100% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Enhabit (NYSE:EHAB) is the #3 top healthcare stock out of 1081 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Enhabit (NYSE:EHAB) is: Value: C, Growth: A, Momentum: C, Sentiment: B, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: C.

Enhabit (NYSE:EHAB) has a Due Diligence Score of 16, which is -10 points lower than the healthcare sector average of 26. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates EHAB as a "A".It passed 5 out of 33 due diligence checks and has weak fundamentals. Enhabit has seen its stock return 27.85% over the past year, overperforming other healthcare stocks by 81 percentage points.

Enhabit has an average 1 year price target of $12.67, an upside of 13.1% from Enhabit's current stock price of $11.20.

Enhabit stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 3 analysts covering Enhabit, 66.67% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 33.33% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a Hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 68 healthcare stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 healthcare stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Dominari Holdings (NASDAQ:DOMH) has an annual dividend yield of 27.82%, which is 26 percentage points higher than the healthcare sector average of 2.24%.

Dominari Holdings's dividend payout ratio of 8.4% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Spok Holdings (NASDAQ:SPOK) has an annual dividend yield of 9.2%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the healthcare sector average of 2.24%. Spok Holdings's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Spok Holdings's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Spok Holdings's dividend payout ratio of 154.3% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORMP) has an annual dividend yield of 7.89%, which is 6 percentage points higher than the healthcare sector average of 2.24%.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals's dividend payout ratio of 0% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Healthcare stocks were down -0.15% in the last day, and up 1.92% over the last week. Traws Pharma was the among the top losers in the healthcare sector, dropping -20.3% yesterday.

Traws Pharma shares are trading lower. The company announced completion of the clinical analysis of its Phase 2 study of ratutrelvir versus PAXLOVID in COVID-19 patients.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued healthcare stocks right now are:

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) is the most undervalued healthcare stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Embecta has a valuation score of 86, which is 68 points higher than the healthcare sector average of 18. It passed 6 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Embecta's stock has dropped -31.89% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the healthcare sector by 21 percentage points.

Nutex Health (NASDAQ:NUTX) is the second most undervalued healthcare stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Nutex Health has a valuation score of 57, which is 39 points higher than the healthcare sector average of 18. It passed 4 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Nutex Health's stock has gained 59.94% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the healthcare sector by 113 percentage points.

Organon & Co (NYSE:OGN) is the third most undervalued healthcare stock based on its Valuation Rating of A. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Organon & Co has a valuation score of 71, which is 53 points higher than the healthcare sector average of 18. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Organon & Co's stock has dropped -50.82% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the healthcare sector by 2 percentage points.

57.75% of healthcare stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect healthcare stocks to rise by 38.42% over the next year.

6.45% of healthcare stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 12.43% of healthcare stocks are rated B (Buy), 47.91% are rated C (Hold), 25.21% are rated D (Sell), and 8% are rated F (Strong Sell).