4 healthcare stocks to watch: from frontier-breaking vaccine delivery to college spin-outs redefining cancer care

It’s hard to overstate just how colossal the global healthcare sector is. 10% of all global spending goes on some form of healthcare. And like utilities, the sector comprises hundreds of subsectors; from insurance and logistics to equipment and people services. Here, we’re looking at stocks with a strong scientific focus, to illustrate the pace and scale of innovation that characterises the sector.

Read on to discover:

• Which famous vaccine producer is on track to break new ground in oncology
• How a university side project has caught the intention of growth investors
• Why investing in the ‘nuts and bolts’ of healthcare delivery remains a solid defensive healthcare investment
• Which pharma brand almost took ownership of a popular ancestry website and why that matters

Autolus Therapeutics - a potential healthcare stock for the future

What does Autolus Therapeutics do?

Autolus Therapeutics is a spin-out from University College London, a leading UK university famous for groundbreaking life science research. It develops autologous T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. Autolus has already made a number of significant breakthroughs that have seen the stock price move significantly. And in the summer of 2025, it got EU endorsement for a drug that treats relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia.^[1]

Why does autologous T cell therapy matter to investors?

Conventional chemotherapy can be effective in treating cancer, but many patients struggle to tolerate the gruelling side effects. Autolus is working toward a future where cancer can be treated in a more targeted way, without the side effects of chemo, potentially revolutionising cancer treatment in general and expanding access for patients who could be less able to tolerate conventional therapies.

What to watch

Autolus is focused mainly on developing cancer treatments, a market with growing demand due to age-related increased prevalence. But the growth potential in commercialising those drugs for treating autoimmune disease, something analysts have recognised, is potentially more exciting, given the scale of demand.

Smart investors rarely win by backing a single stock with the hope of a price boosting scientific breakthrough, but given the pace of innovation and progress it reports, Autolus does have the potential to offer significant growth.

Does Autolus stock currently look undervalued at around $2 a share^[2] , having been priced as high as around $48 in 2018?^[2]

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals - a volatile but exciting pharma stock worth watching

What does Regeneron Pharmaceuticals do?

Regeneron is an ambitious and aggressively growing company in the pharma and biotech space. It has developed antiinflammatory drugs and treatments used for cholesterol reduction. It also has a promising research pipeline of treatments for autoimmune conditions.

In 2025 , it agreed to buy the DNA testing and ancestry firm 23andMe out of bankruptcy, but was eventually outbid by a non-profit operated by the original founder of 23andMe.^[3]

Why does Regeneron’s growth strategy matter to investors?

Regeneron’s aggressive growth strategy, which includes acquisitions, high volume pipeline and focus on high impact ‘blockbuster’ drugs means it is exposed to a larger range of countervailing regulatory factors than a more modestly growing company with a tighter remit. Shares tumbled 19% in May 2025, following the unexpected failure of its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment in a late stage clinical trial.^[4]

What to watch

You could fairly describe Regeneron stock as volatile. In the 12 months to June 18th 2025, stock had hit a 52-week high of $1,211.20 and a 52-week low of $476.49.^[5] Revenue has outperformed the S&P 500 over the last year, having grown 7.5% from $13 billion to $14 billion.^[6] But quarterly revenues declined 3.7% to $3.0 billion in the most recent quarter from $3.1 billion a year ago.

This naturally presents dangers and opportunities, depending on your own risk appetite. When looking at companies like Regeneron, remember that you don’t need to buy the stock to take a position on price movements. Our guide to spread betting explains the fundamentals.

Cardinal Health - a defensive stock with steady dividends

What does Cardinal Health do?

Think of Cardinal Health as a healthcare infrastructure provider. It provides services and products to more than 90% of U.S. hospitals, supports in-home care for more than 5 million patients, and operates around 30 nuclear pharmacies and positron emission tomography (PET) cyclotron facilities.^[7]

Why does Cardinal’s market reach matter to investors?

Cardinal is the 27th highest^[8] revenue generating business in the world, and has a history of stable dividend distributions.^[8] Investors looking for a defensive healthcare pick could do a lot worse.

What to watch

Steady, predictable growth. In its Q3 2025 earnings call, Cardinal reported strong third-quarter performance, powered partly by strategic acquisitions of Advanced Diabetes Supply Group, GI Alliance, and Integrated Oncology Network.

Management pointed to 21% growth in operating earnings and an earnings per share (EPS) of $2.35^[9] , with success attributed to broad-based strength across segments and disciplined cost control. Adjusted revenue growth was 20%, leading to a raised fiscal 2025 EPS guidance of $8.05-$8.15.^[9]

Cardinal revised its pharmaceutical profit growth guidance to 11.5%-12.5% and expects adjusted free cash flow to potentially exceed $1.5 billion.^[9] Analysts like the fact that Cardinal is reshoring manufacturing to mitigate any tariff headwinds.

Moderna - a potentially undervalued healthcare growth stock

What does Moderna do?

Unless you’ve been trading healthcare stocks for a long time, the first you probably heard of Moderna was in 2020 when they launched one of the first Covid-19 vaccines and became a household pharmaceutical brand. Moderna is tightly focused on messenger RNA (mRNA) drugs, which mainly take the form of vaccines. But there’s more to the story than their pivotal role in the Covid-19 pandemic response.

Moderna has vaccine candidates for a range of diseases in late stage clinical trials, including for influenza, HIV and Epstein–Barr virus.

Why does its messenger RNA platform matter to investors?

Analysts generally think Moderna is at a major inflection point in its journey. Demand for Covid-19 vaccines is naturally declining year on year.

So where does Moderna go from here?

Moderna isn’t just a vaccine developer. Its mRNA platform, the mechanism of delivery, is where its value is derived. The firm is actively developing novel uses for its platform for applications ranging from respiratory vaccines to oncology.^[10]

What to watch

Revenue is down^[11] , but is Moderna undervalued?

Analysts are split. Bearish projections call on fears that Moderna has peaked and now faces regulatory hurdles as it strives to bring new products to market. The bullish perspective might cite Moderna’s track record of delivering effective, safe drugs at epic scales when needed, plus its focus on applying its science to new frontiers. Nobody can argue that Moderna can’t break new frontiers.

The bottom line

Healthcare is an exciting sector for traders and investors. The potential for era-defining breakthroughs is obvious. We’ve focused on three potential growth pharma stocks and a steady defensive stock to highlight the diversity of growth potential. But no trading strategy should rely on scientific milestones, especially when there is so much steady growth to capture from the research, insurance, equipment and infrastructure side of the industry.

Cautious investors will be attracted to sector specific ETFs and supply-side producers like Cardinal Health. More ambitious investors should be looking at identifying potentially undervalued picks like Moderna, alongside a diversified portfolio of growth and dividend stocks.