The health-care sector may have done poorly in the last couple of years, but analysts are bullish on it right now . “Just two weeks into 2024, the healthcare sector has shrugged off the title of being a notable laggard in 2023,” Citi said in a recent note. Higher interest rates were a key headwind, it noted. But Citi now expects the environment to improve. “We think healthcare investors can climb this wall of worry in 2024. We expect the Federal Reserve to ease its restrictive monetary policies over time. And we are already seeing a stabilization in biotech funding.” “For those dialed into the twin unstoppable trends of longevity and innovation, however, the 2023 downturn has created opportunities. Many of the issues that held back Healthcare stocks are transitory, in our opinion, thus creating a favorable setup for the sector’s potential outperformance in 2024,” the bank added. Analysts have cited biotech in particular as one of a few areas to watch . Growth stocks such those in tech and biotech usually benefit from rate cuts. To look for biotech stocks that did well last year and that analysts are still positive on, CNBC Pro screened the iShares Biotechnology ETF and the SPDR S & P Biotech ETF. These were the criteria used: Up more than 20% in 2023. Potential upside to average price target of more than 40%. Buy rating of more than 70%. Seven or more analysts cover the stock. These 10 stocks were among those that showed up in the screen. Four stocks stood out for being given on average more than 100% potential upside: Humacyte , Marinus Pharmaceuticals , Olema Pharmaceuticals and Ovid Therapeutics . A fifth stock — Biomea Fusion — got more than 200% upside to the average price target and a 75% buy rating from analysts. Biomea first came under the spotlight when Citi gave it more than 800% upside in a note last November , as the bank cited its treatment therapies having “potential advantages” over others. Another three stocks in the screen drew 100% buy ratings from analysts: Ardelyx , Cabaletta Bio and Rocket Pharmaceuticals . Of these three, Rocket Pharmaceuticals got the highest potential upside of 81.4%.
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