Okay, right. So, here’s the scoop, or maybe a ramble, who even knows these days, about telehealth stocks. Who doesn’t love to peek into the future of virtual doctor visits and tele-everything? Fascinating stuff, promise.
So picture this: Grand View Research reckons, almost pulling numbers out of a magical crystal ball, that the telehealth market in the US could be picking up speed and dollars faster than a dog chasing its tail. They pegged it at $42.54 billion in 2024, and they’re talking about it galloping ahead with a growth rate of 23.8% from 2025 to 2030. Driving this train are things like our smartphones — those wily gadgets we’re all hopelessly glued to — and a bunch of tech advances. Oh, and there’s that whole ‘I don’t want to leave my couch to see a doctor’ vibe rising up as well.
Alright, dip into the McKinsey analysis cauldron, and out pops this wild fact: there’s like a potential $250 billion worth of healthcare spending in the U.S. just ready to go virtual. We’re talking about virtual training for doctors, remote psych therapy — all the good stuff you can imagine zipping through the net straight to your phone or PC.
Some wise folks even say healthcare and pharma stocks are like your umbrella on a rainy day, mostly shrugging off tariff tantrums and economic chaos. There’s this guy, Jared Holz from Mizuho Securities America, thinking that managed care stocks, especially those focused on the government, are sorta like that rock in the middle of a crazy sea. Less utilization, less patience — a simple recipe for their bottom lines, apparently.
Now amidst others, Elevance Health, Inc. (yes, that NYSE:ELV ticker is a mouthful) offers some nifty virtual health services too. They did 800,000 virtual visits back in 2023, which seems like a ton, even though I can’t quite wrap my mind around such big numbers. They’ve got their fingers in all sorts of pies with segments like Health Benefits and CarelonRx — juggling pharmacy, behavioral health, and much more as if they’re performing some high-stakes circus act.
Big player insights like Artisan Select Equity Fund noted some hiccups in Elevance’s Medicaid numbers, all tangled up in post-pandemic adjustments. But ever the optimists, they think rates will flex back up, fixing those margins over time, like some financial magic fix.
So, as we scroll through our telehealth stock picks, ELV cozies comfortably in third place, though I’ll let you on a little secret — some folks are betting high on AI stocks now, claiming they’re sprouting faster returns. There’s one sneaky AI stock outperforming its peers, buzzing quietly under the radar, and it’s cheap — like ‘bargain bin but cooler’ cheap.
Read more of my chaotic stock banter, or escape down a rabbit hole leading to AI stock wonderland. Up to you.