We recently compiled a list of the 12 Cheap Healthcare Stocks to Buy Heading into 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) stands against the other cheap healthcare stocks.
The Resilience and Challenges of Global Healthcare Spending
Investing in healthcare equities is typically seen as protective during recessionary times. This is because, even in hard financial times, consumers usually do not reduce their usage of prescription drugs or other necessary healthcare services. National healthcare spending is expected to reach an estimated $4.8 trillion in 2023 and increase at a 5.6% annual pace between 2027 and 2032, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
According to a World Health Organization report published in December 2023, worldwide healthcare spending reached a record high in 2021 at $9.8 trillion, or 10.3% of global GDP. Except in low-income countries, where government health spending declined as a result of their significant reliance on foreign aid, public health spending increased globally. While 11% of the world’s population lived in countries where yearly healthcare spending was less than $50 per person, high-income countries paid about $4,000 per capita in 2021. Additionally, low-income countries accounted for just 0.24% of global health spending, despite having 8% of the world’s population. The study claims that although public health spending rose dramatically during the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, this increase is unlikely to last in the long term as countries now place a higher priority on economic problems such as high inflation, decreasing GDP, and mounting debt servicing. According to Dr. Bruce Aylward, WHO Assistant Director-General for Universal Health Coverage, Life Course:
“Sustained public financing on health is urgently needed to progress towards universal health coverage. It is especially critical at this time when the world is confronted by the climate crisis, conflicts, and other complex emergencies. People’s health and well-being need to be protected by resilient health systems that can also withstand these shocks.”
The impending collapse of the U.S. healthcare system, especially in terms of staff shortages and financial instability, is the most worrisome aspect of the healthcare sector. There is a serious manpower shortage in the healthcare sector. An additional 124,000 doctors are expected to be required by 2030, and by 2027, 800,000 registered nurses (RNs) are expected to retire. A startling 24% of staff registered nurses are currently leaving their jobs. In certain healthcare systems, this deficit has resulted in the shutdown of critical patient services like obstetrics, pediatrics, psychiatry, and intensive care units.
Nevertheless, the U.S. spends over twice as much on healthcare as the OECD average, despite these difficulties, and the average results are poorer. This discrepancy emphasizes how ineffective and unsustainable the current system is. Further taxing the revenue cycle and reducing the amount of money available for therapeutic treatments is the fact that 58% of hospital bad debt originates from insured patients. The future of the American healthcare system appears bleak when these elements are taken together. The industry faces a systemic collapse that could have serious repercussions for the economy and public health if substantial intervention and reform are not implemented.
Our Methodology
Our methodology involved selecting stocks with a market capitalization exceeding $10 billion and a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio below 17. We then ranked these stocks based on their P/E ratios, as of December 22.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
A row of shelves in a retail pharmacy, demonstrating the variety of drugs and over-the-counter products.
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS)
P/E Ratio: 11.78
CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), standing fourth among the cheap healthcare stocks to buy heading into 2025, is a leading U.S. healthcare company with a multifaceted business model. It operates over 9,900 retail pharmacies offering medications, health products, and household items. The company provides pharmacy services, including prescription filling, specialty and mail-order services, and Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) through Caremark. CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) also offers health services via MinuteClinic for walk-in care and HealthHUB locations for chronic disease management and telehealth. Additionally, through its acquisition of Aetna, the corporation provides medical, dental, and vision insurance, enabling comprehensive healthcare solutions.
Customers’ access to services has been improved by CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS) by utilizing its knowledge of health. Aetna, the company’s insurance division, unveiled SimplePay Health on October 16. The new service is an alternate health plan designed to accommodate self-insured consumers’ various needs. The strategy improves health outcomes while saving customers money.
On October 1, Aetna revealed its 2025 Medicare plans to meet its objectives. By guaranteeing that people have access to dependable and reasonably priced healthcare when needed, the plan aims to address the members’ most pressing health requirements. 59 million Medicare-eligible beneficiaries will have access to Aetna’s Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) plans when they extend to 44 states and Washington, DC, in 2025, for a total of 2,259 counties. In addition, Medicare Advantage (MA) by Aetna will offer a $0 monthly fee to 83% of Medicare-eligible enrollees in the United States.
In its Q2 2024 investor letter, Ariel Investments‘ Ariel Global Fund made the following statement about CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS):
“American healthcare company, CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), also declined following disappointing earnings results and a subsequent reduction in full-year guidance. The miss was primarily due to increased utilization of Medicare Advantage plans and weakness in the health services segment driven by the loss of a large client and continued pharmacy client price improvements. In response, management reiterated its focus on improving margins and enhancing its positioning in Medicare Advantage. CVS believes the program can remain an attractive business for Aetna and CVS Health over time and will construct its bid for 2025 as a multi-year repricing opportunity across plan-level benefits. Meanwhile, CVS continues to return capital to shareholders through dividends and a recent accelerated share repurchase transaction.”
Overall CVS ranks 4th on our list of the cheap healthcare stocks to buy heading into 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of CVS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CVS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.