We recently compiled a list of the Why These 15 Healthcare Stocks Are Skyrocketing So Far In 2025. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Akero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKRO) stands against the other healthcare stocks.
The healthcare sector is staging a comeback so far in 2025 after two years of underperformance. These stocks could get even hotter due to AI. The healthcare sector was a hot topic during the Stargate project announcement, so it is likely that there are going to be even more breakthroughs here as technology advances.
The S&P 500 Healthcare Index trailed the broader market considerably in the past few years. However, it has risen 7% year-to-date so far. There are many promising drugs awaiting approvals and trials right now. As such, healthcare EBITDA is projected to grow at a 7% CAGR, reaching $987 billion by 2028.
The sector is bouncing back from post-pandemic challenges. Nearly 60% of industry leaders expressed a favorable outlook for 2025. Thus, it is worth looking at the healthcare stocks spearheading the gains.
Methodology
For this article, I screened the top-performing healthcare stocks year-to-date. Stocks that I have covered recently will be excluded from this list.
I will also mention the number of hedge fund investors in these stocks. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds invest in? 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).
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Akero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKRO)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q3 2024: 30
Akero Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AKRO) is a biotech company that makes treatments for metabolic diseases.
The stock has delivered stellar gains so far in 2025 as 39% of patients receiving its drug achieved ≥1 stage improvement in liver fibrosis without worsening of MASH at 96 weeks. This is compared to 15% for placebo.
The results were consistent across both completer analysis and intent-to-treat (ITT) analysis.
The drug seems to have a good safety profile with no deaths in the EFX group and manageable gastrointestinal side effects. This could be a first-in-class therapy for MASH-induced cirrhosis.
It completed an upsized public offering in January and raised $402.5 million by selling 6.4 million shares at $48 each.
The consensus price target of $75.86 implies 41.04% upside.
AKRO stock is up 94.03% year-to-date.
Overall AKRO ranks 8th on our list of the healthcare stocks that are skyrocketing so far in 2025. While we acknowledge the potential of AKRO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than AKRO 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 was originally published at Insider Monkey.
