We recently published our article Top 10 Healthcare Stocks That Could Turn a $1000 Investment Into Something Bigger. In this piece, we take a closer look at Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) to examine its latest developments, pipeline progress, and why it continues to draw attention from investors.
For much of the past three years, the US healthcare sector has looked like the quiet guest at a very loud Wall Street party. While artificial intelligence stocks, semiconductor names, mega-cap technology companies, and AI infrastructure plays grabbed most of the market’s attention, healthcare stocks were left sitting in the corner, looking unusually cheap, unusually unloved, and, depending on who one asks, unusually interesting.
That may now be the point.
The US healthcare sector has underperformed the broader stock market for three straight years, and the numbers tell the story clearly. Healthcare returned only 0.3% in 2023, followed by 0.9% in 2024, and 12.5% in 2025. Those returns may not sound disastrous in isolation, but compared with the broader market’s stronger gains, they show a sector that has struggled to keep up with investor enthusiasm elsewhere. The weakness has continued into 2026, with the healthcare sector down 1.62% year-to-date, while the S&P 500 has climbed 10.35% over the same period.
For investors searching for the best healthcare stocks to buy, undervalued healthcare stocks, promising healthcare stocks, biotech stocks with upside potential, medical device stocks, pharmaceutical stocks, healthcare value stocks, and defensive stocks with long-term growth potential, this kind of underperformance can be more than just a warning sign. It can also be the start of a setup.
The AI Trade Left Healthcare Behind
The biggest reason healthcare has lagged, according to several market watchers, is not that the sector suddenly lost its importance. People still need medicines, hospitals, diagnostics, medical devices, insurance coverage, drug development, and life-saving treatments regardless of what is trending on Wall Street. The problem is that healthcare has been competing for attention against one of the strongest market stories of the decade: artificial intelligence.
The AI trade has pulled enormous investor interest into technology, semiconductors, cloud computing, data centers, and AI infrastructure stocks. In a market where investors are chasing earnings growth tied to artificial intelligence, defensive sectors like healthcare can look less exciting, even when their fundamentals remain intact. That is exactly the point made by Gareth Powell, Head of Healthcare at Polar Capital, who argued in a May 18 article that investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has pulled capital away from defensive corners of the market, including healthcare.
Michael Zinn, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at UBS, made a similar observation during a June 8 appearance on BNN Bloomberg. Zinn described the market’s recent behavior as a “catch-up trade” tied to rising earnings expectations in AI infrastructure. In simpler terms, investors have been rewarding companies that appear directly connected to the AI boom, while skipping over sectors that look slower, steadier, or more defensive. Healthcare, despite its massive role in the economy, has been one of the sectors left behind.
That is one of the more interesting twists in today’s market. Healthcare is usually seen as a defensive sector, the kind investors often turn to when economic uncertainty rises. But in a market dominated by AI excitement, even defensive quality has not been enough to command investor attention.
Healthcare May Be Turning Into a Value Sector
This is where the story becomes more interesting for long-term investors. Jared Holz, a healthcare strategist at Mizuho Americas, has argued that the healthcare sector has effectively become a value sector. His reasoning is straightforward. After years of investors crowding into technology and AI-related stocks, healthcare valuations have become more reasonable, while expectations for many healthcare companies have fallen.
That combination matters. In the stock market, a sector does not always need perfect conditions to perform well. Sometimes, it only needs expectations to become low enough. When a sector is ignored for years, valuations can compress, investor sentiment can weaken, and even solid companies can trade below what analysts believe they are worth. That appears to be the situation now for several healthcare stocks with strong analyst upside potential.
For investors looking for healthcare stocks with high upside, Wall Street analyst stock picks, top healthcare stocks for 2026, and value stocks in the healthcare sector, the current setup may be worth studying closely. The sector’s underperformance has created a market where some healthcare companies may now offer more attractive risk-reward profiles than they did during periods when investors were more enthusiastic.
Healthcare has always been a broad sector. It includes pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, hospital operators, managed care companies, diagnostics businesses, medical technology companies, life sciences tools providers, and healthcare services firms. Some of these companies are defensive and cash-generating. Others are higher-risk, catalyst-driven names tied to drug approvals, clinical trial results, regulatory decisions, and product launches. That mix gives investors several ways to approach the sector, depending on their risk appetite.
Why Wall Street Is Starting to Look Again
The renewed interest in healthcare stocks is not just about cheap valuations. It is also about history. SentimenTrader’s Jay Kaeppel has advised investors to put healthcare back on the radar, noting that the sector has rarely performed this poorly relative to the S&P 500. His view suggests that healthcare’s weak year-to-date showing may not be a reason to ignore the sector, but rather a reason to examine whether a rebound is becoming more likely.
That does not mean every healthcare stock is a bargain. It also does not mean investors should blindly buy the sector just because it has lagged. Healthcare investing can be complicated. Drugmakers face patent cliffs. Biotech companies face clinical trial risk. Medical device companies can be affected by hospital spending cycles. Managed care companies can be pressured by regulation, reimbursement trends, and utilization costs. Even large healthcare companies can struggle when policy uncertainty rises or growth expectations fall.
Still, the sector’s current position is hard to dismiss. Healthcare stocks have underperformed for several years, valuations appear more reasonable, and analyst price targets suggest that select names may have significant upside from current levels. For investors who believe the AI trade has become crowded, healthcare may offer a different kind of opportunity: less flashy, less crowded, but potentially more attractively priced.
There is also a useful bit of market trivia here. Healthcare is one of the few sectors that can be both defensive and innovative at the same time. A pharmaceutical company may generate steady revenue from established medicines while also developing next-generation therapies. A medical device company may serve everyday hospital demand while also introducing advanced technologies that improve surgery, imaging, or patient monitoring. A biotech company may look speculative today but become highly valuable if a major treatment succeeds. That is why healthcare often attracts both conservative investors and aggressive growth investors, even though they may be looking at very different types of companies.
The Sector Nobody Wanted May Now Be the One to Watch
The irony is that healthcare’s weakness may be exactly what makes it interesting now. Wall Street has spent years focusing on AI stocks, semiconductor stocks, mega-cap technology names, and companies tied to the digital infrastructure boom. Meanwhile, many healthcare stocks have been quietly reset. Expectations have moved lower. Valuations have become more reasonable. Analysts are starting to identify names with large upside potential. And the sector’s poor relative performance has become difficult to ignore.
For investors searching Google for the most promising healthcare stocks, best healthcare stocks according to Wall Street analysts, healthcare stocks with upside potential, undervalued biotech stocks, top pharmaceutical stocks, and healthcare stocks to buy now, the current market backdrop creates an important question: has healthcare been forgotten for too long?
That is the central idea behind this article. The healthcare sector is not suddenly risk-free, and not every beaten-down stock deserves a second look. But after three consecutive years of lagging the broader market and another weak start in 2026, the sector now sits in a position where Wall Street analysts see meaningful upside in select names. In a market where many investors are still chasing AI-linked winners, healthcare may offer something different: a mix of value, defensiveness, innovation, and recovery potential.
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Our Methodology
In order to come up with our list of the top 10 healthcare stocks that could turn a $1,000 investment into something bigger, we used the Finviz stock screener to identify US-listed healthcare stocks with average analyst price targets at least 50% above their current share prices as of June 16, 2026, reviewed hedge fund ownership in Q1 2026 for added institutional context, and ranked the final list in ascending order of implied upside potential.
Top 10 Healthcare Stocks That Could Turn a $1000 Investment Into Something Bigger
7. Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX)
Stock Upside: 60.39%
Market Capitalization: $69.52 billion
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) ranks seventh on this list of the most promising healthcare stocks according to Wall Street analysts, and it is one of the largest and most institutionally followed names in the group. Trading at $45.29, with the stock up 0.76%, Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE) has a market capitalization of $69.52 billion, a stock upside of 60.39%, and 106 hedge fund holders as of Q1 2026. For investors looking for medical device stocks, healthcare stocks with upside potential, large-cap healthcare stocks, cardiovascular device stocks, and Wall Street analyst stock picks, Boston Scientific remains a major player even as one of its most important cardiac products faces near-term questions.
On June 4, Truist Securities lowered its price target on Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE) from $85 to $64, while keeping a Buy rating on the stock. Analyst Richard Newitter cited a growing slowdown in demand for the company’s Watchman heart device. At first glance, a price-target cut may sound like bad news, but the Buy rating is important because it suggests Truist still sees upside despite lower expectations. That is often how Wall Street handles strong companies facing product-specific pressure. The firm may reduce its valuation assumptions while still believing the broader business remains attractive.
The Watchman device is central to this part of the Boston Scientific story. It is a small implant placed in the heart to help prevent blood clots from forming and traveling to the brain. The device is designed for patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation, or AFib, and it serves as a one-time alternative to lifelong use of blood thinners. That matters because AFib is one of the most common heart rhythm disorders, and stroke prevention is a major priority for both patients and physicians. For years, Watchman has been one of Boston Scientific’s more visible growth franchises because it sits at the intersection of cardiology, minimally invasive treatment, and long-term stroke-risk management.
The recent concern, however, is procedure volume. According to Newitter, the issue began to build after Boston Scientific’s Q4 2025 results showed Watchman sales coming in about 1% below analyst expectations. The pressure became more visible when CEO Michael Mahoney spoke at Bernstein’s annual conference on May 27 and disclosed that physicians were increasingly combining Watchman procedures with other cardiac treatments in a single appointment instead of scheduling Watchman as a standalone procedure. That may sound like a small operational detail, but in medical devices, procedure patterns matter. If the same patient journey shifts from separate appointments to combined procedures, reported volumes and revenue timing can be affected.
Newitter interpreted this clinical-practice shift as a direct drag on Watchman procedure volumes. Mahoney also told investors to expect Watchman revenue to remain essentially flat from Q1 through Q2 and likely into Q3 2026 because of that shift. For short-term investors, that creates a clear issue. A slower Watchman growth path could weigh on sentiment around Boston Scientific, especially if investors had been counting on the device to keep delivering faster expansion. But for long-term investors, the broader Boston Scientific portfolio still matters. This is not a single-product biotech. It is a diversified medical device company with exposure to interventional cardiology, structural heart, electrophysiology, endoscopy, peripheral interventions, urology, and other medical specialties.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE) develops, manufactures, and markets a broad portfolio of technologies used in interventional medicine. Its products include drug-eluting stents, structural heart therapies like the Watchman left atrial appendage closure device, and electrophysiology mapping and ablation systems. That product diversity is one reason the company continues to attract institutional attention. The presence of 106 hedge fund holders in Q1 2026 makes Boston Scientific one of the most widely held names on this list. For investors looking for healthcare value stocks, medical technology stocks, and large-cap healthcare stocks to buy, institutional interest can be an important signal, although it is never a guarantee of future returns.
The key question for Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE) is whether Watchman’s near-term slowdown is a manageable pause or a sign of a more lasting issue. The market often punishes healthcare companies when a major product line slows, but the company’s size, product diversity, and analyst upside suggest that Wall Street still sees a bigger opportunity. With a 60.39% stock upside estimate and a $69.52 billion market capitalization, Boston Scientific remains a heavyweight medical device stock. It may not have the cleanest near-term story because of Watchman, but it still belongs in the conversation around the most promising healthcare stocks according to Wall Street analysts.
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Disclosure: No relevant interests to disclose. This article was originally published on BioTech HealthX.
