In the face of an unstable and uncertain market, now may be the health-care sector’s time to shine, according to BTIG. Health-care stocks were the second-worst group last year in the S & P 500 , rising less than 1% compared to a 39% gain in communication services stocks. But spurred partly by looming tariffs, investors have increasingly flocked to health-care stocks in a volatile market and macroeconomy. Health-care stocks have climbed more than 7% so far in 2025, second-best in the S & P 500, behind only consumer staples, another defensive category. That has been due to a host of individual stock performances. CVS has surged 40% in 2025, partly due to a strong fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat . Biopharma stock Gilead Sciences has popped 20% year to date, also on the back of strong fourth-quarter results. IYH YTD mountain iShares health care ETF in 2025. Going forward, BTIG chief market technician Jonathan Krinsky expects this outperformance to continue. “While it’s far too soon to tell whether HC will be 2025’s best sector, for now it fits the bill as a somewhat defensive group that is likely underowned given its multi-year downtrend vs. the S & P 500,” Krinsky wrote in a report Monday. “More recently, however, it’s very close to making a multi-month relative high which suggests it should be given the benefit of the doubt.” Krinsky said health care has not led the S & P 500 in a calendar year since 2018, when it rose 5% while the S & P 500 lost 6%. “Interestingly that was another year that saw heightened volatility amidst geo-political uncertainty,” Krinsky added. Krinsky highlighted some health-care stocks that could lead the sector higher this year, including GE Healthcare , a “pre-breakout candidate that has been consolidating for a year in a wide trading range.” He also sees more room for Gilead Sciences to move higher. The BTIG chart analyst is not alone on Wall Street in recommending health care lately. In a January note, Barclays analyst Andrew Mok called the sector one of the biggest beneficiaries following the DeepSeek-instigated Nvidia sell-off, owing to the fact investors are so underweight health care in a typical portfolio. “The NVDA sell-off [in late January] prompted a big sector rotation within the S & P 500 that primarily benefited defensive-oriented sectors such as Health Care and consumer staples,” he wrote. “Any sustained underperformance in Big Tech is likely to benefit Health Care broadly and help to renew interest in facilities and managed care.” The information technology sector has shed about 3% in 2025, second only to consumer discretionary stocks. Similarly, earlier this month, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood singled out health care as one of her biggest investment ideas of 2025. “We’ve got 37 trillion cells in our body, and they’re going to be sequenced as we’re looking for cures,” Wood said on CNBC’s ” Squawk Box .” “The most underappreciated application of AI is health care. I think health care is responsible for an incredible amount of storage out there right now. Data is the name of the game,” Wood added.
Meet your new stock market leader
