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Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, UnitedHealth Group and Intuitive Surgical are four healthcare companies investors could investigate for a long-term portfolio—not a verified top-four ranking or automatic buy list. The available evidence is uneven: it includes a reported earnings decline at UnitedHealth and a management ambition from Novo Nordisk, but it does not establish comparable valuations or prove that any of these stocks is worth buying today. A decade-long holding period does not guarantee a positive return.
How to assess a healthcare stock for a decade-long hold
A long horizon is useful only if the investment case can survive changes in products, competition, regulation and valuation. Start with the company’s latest filings, then ask whether its durable revenue sources and capacity to reinvest are strong enough to offset the risks specific to its business model.
- Business model: Identify what customers pay for—medicines, devices and related procedures, insurance, or healthcare services—and how repeatable that revenue is.
- Competitive staying power: Look for evidence in the company’s portfolio, pipeline, installed base, switching costs or scale. A large market or familiar brand alone does not establish a durable advantage.
- Earnings risks: Consider clinical or product setbacks, competition, reimbursement and regulation, patent or exclusivity changes, execution, and medical-cost trends where relevant.
- Financial resilience: Compare revenue, earnings, cash generation, debt and reinvestment needs across consistent periods using company filings.
- Price paid: A strong business can still be a poor investment at an excessive valuation. Morningstar’s 2026 healthcare coverage highlights drug manufacturing and diagnostics and research as long-term opportunity areas, while emphasizing price relative to fair value—not a blanket buy signal.
The evidence below does not provide a dated, comparable valuation for all four companies. The names should therefore be treated as research candidates, not ranked recommendations.
Four healthcare stocks to investigate
| Company | Business area indicated by the available evidence | What to examine before forming a thesis |
|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly (LLY) | Pharmaceuticals | Revenue drivers, product concentration, pipeline, manufacturing capacity, competition, patent exposure and risks in its 2025 Form 10-K. |
| Novo Nordisk (NVO) | Pharmaceuticals | Competitive position, execution against management’s 2030 ambitions, and the distinction between ambitions and financial guidance. |
| UnitedHealth Group (UNH) | Insurance and healthcare services | Medical-cost trends, portfolio changes, restructuring and the factors behind the 2025 operating-earnings decline. |
| Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) | Surgical robotics and procedure exposure | Procedure volume, recurring instrument and service revenue, system placements, competition, regulatory risks and valuation. |
Eli Lilly: examine growth alongside execution
Eli Lilly’s investor-relations site lists its 2025 annual report and SEC filing. Those filings are the appropriate basis for assessing the company’s revenue drivers, product concentration, pipeline progress, manufacturing capacity, competition, patent exposure and risks. The available evidence does not establish a current valuation or support a specific decade-long return thesis, so a growth narrative alone is not enough to conclude that the shares are attractive.
#1 Best Overall
Novo Nordisk: separate strategic ambitions from guidance
Novo Nordisk’s 2025 annual report describes a pivotal period and a dynamic healthcare landscape. In a capital-markets update dated September 21, 2026, the company set out ambitions for 2030 from a 2026 baseline. The company explicitly characterized those ambitions as inherently uncertain and not financial outlook or guidance. Investors should assess the competitive and execution assumptions behind the plans without treating them as promised results.
UnitedHealth Group: test the defensive-stock assumption
UnitedHealth Group’s 2025 Form 10-K reports earnings from operations of $19.0 billion in 2025, compared with $32.3 billion in 2024. The company attributed the decline to factors including elevated medical-cost trends, restructuring and other actions, portfolio changes, and reduced impacts related to the Change Healthcare cyberattack. This company-reported year-over-year comparison is a reminder that insurance and healthcare services earnings can be volatile; it is not a forecast of future results.
Rank #2
Intuitive Surgical: verify the procedure and installed-base case
Intuitive Surgical is a candidate for investors interested in surgical robotics and procedure exposure. The available evidence points to discussion of its installed base and procedure growth in secondary coverage, but that is not enough to establish a current investment thesis. Its own filings should be checked for procedure volume, recurring instrument and service revenue, system placements, competition, regulatory risks and valuation before drawing conclusions.
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The information available here does not verify these as the definitive four healthcare stocks to own, show that their valuations are attractive on the same date and method, or establish a common expected return over ten years. It also does not provide a broad, sourced healthcare-demand or demographic statistic that would justify a sector-wide growth forecast. Those gaps matter: a compelling business description is not a substitute for current financial results, competitive analysis and a price-based valuation.
Rank #3
A practical diligence checklist before buying
- Read the latest annual and quarterly filings. Use them to confirm the business segments, revenue and earnings trends, cash generation, debt, material risks and management’s current outlook.
- Trace the business-specific drivers. For a drugmaker, examine products, pipeline, manufacturing, competition and patent exposure. For an insurer and services company, examine medical costs and portfolio changes. For a device company, examine procedure activity, placements and recurring revenue.
- Compare like with like. Use consistent periods and definitions when comparing financial performance; do not compare one company’s reported statistic with another company’s forecast as if they were equivalent.
- Value each stock using dated inputs. Record the share price date and the valuation method or fair-value estimate used. Recheck the thesis if the price changes materially or new company information alters its assumptions.
- Decide what would invalidate the thesis. Identify the competitive, clinical, regulatory, execution or cost developments that would make you reconsider holding the stock.
Company filings are the primary sources to consult for the detailed claims: Eli Lilly’s 2025 annual report and SEC filing, Novo Nordisk’s 2025 annual report and September 21, 2026 capital-markets update, UnitedHealth Group’s 2025 Form 10-K, and Intuitive Surgical’s own filings. Morningstar’s 2026 healthcare coverage provides a valuation-aware sector perspective, but does not establish that any individual candidate is a buy.
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