We recently published a list of 10 Best Telehealth Stocks to Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) stands against other best telehealth stocks to buy right now.

Overview of the American Telehealth Industry

According to Grand View Research, the telehealth market size in the US was valued at $42.54 billion in 2024. It is expected to grow at a notable compound annual growth rate of 23.8% between 2025 and 2030. Some of the primary factors supporting this growth include the rising demand for remote healthcare services, large-scale penetration of connected home services, and high internet usage. In addition, the global adoption of smartphones, advancements in technology, and a surge in government initiatives to develop telehealth programs are also supporting market growth.

Since the cost of in-person healthcare provision is increasing in the country, telehealth presents a significant opportunity in the healthcare sector. According to McKinsey, around $250 billion of the present US healthcare spending can be virtualized. This includes training for medical professionals, regular check-in appointments for chronic diseases, psychiatric care, and more, all administered and accessed through each individual’s preferred device.

READ ALSO: 10 Best Mid Cap Biotech Stocks to Buy and 12 Best Diagnostics Stocks to Invest In Right Now.

Are Healthcare Stocks a Safe Haven Amid Tariff Turmoil?

Some experts view medical, healthcare, and big pharma stocks as immune from trade carnage, making them a safe haven amid the uncertainty brought about by Trump’s tariffs. Since Trump’s tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainties are causing significant market volatility, we discussed the potential of healthcare stocks as a safe haven amidst the ongoing turmoil in a recently published article on the 10 Best Medical Stocks to Buy According to Billionaires. Here is an excerpt from the article:

On April 8, Mizuho Securities America healthcare sector strategist Jared Holz opined that managed care, particularly the government-centric names, are somewhat safe as they are insulated from tariffs as US-based companies. In fact, the economic slowdown is actually beneficial for them as they want less utilization and less patience through the system, which is how they typically beat numbers. He said that managed care is having a good day, and investors might think about owning some companies in the sector.

It is, however, a relative game, as there are several different variables at play, and investors are essentially playing a game of hopscotch in an attempt to jump from one area to another, whether it’s tariffs, drug pricing, or other public policies. He painted a similar picture for medical device stocks that are more US-centric. These two sectors thus have less risk relative to others, making them somewhat of a safe haven.

Our Methodology

We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 25 telehealth stocks and chose the top 10 most popular among hedge funds as of Q4 2024. The list is ordered in ascending order of hedge fund sentiment. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database.

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 closeup of an elderly patient happily receiving a specialty healthcare product.

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 64

Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) provides health insurance services and virtual care and telehealth coverage to its members, ranking its as the fourth-best telehealth stock to invest in. Its operations are divided into Insurance and CenterWell segments. The CenterWell segments offer pharmacy solutions, primary care, and home solutions operations. Analysts are bullish on the stock. Since the beginning of April, Morgan Stanley, Baird, Truist, Barclays, and Mizuho have raised their price targets on the company, and it was initiated with a buy at Guggenheim and Wells Fargo.

On March 25, Bernstein analyst Lance Wilkes also maintained a Buy rating on Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) and set a price target of $313.00. The analyst said the company is well-positioned to benefit from the stabilizing trends emerging in the recovering Medicare Advantage (MA) and Medicaid margins. This stabilization is expected to decelerate utilization rates to normal levels, making the current valuation attractive for investors.

The analyst also pointed out several emerging catalysts that could positively affect Humana Inc.’s (NYSE:HUM) future performance, including utilization data from hospitals and managed care organizations (MCOs) that are anticipated to dissipate concerns about margin pressure, margin recovery signs in MA and Medicaid, and policy uncertainty reduction. Overall, the analyst has an optimistic outlook on the company’s future, supporting the Buy rating. It takes the fourth spot on our list of the top telehealth stocks to buy right now.

Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“We were fairly active in Q4, adding four stocks to the portfolio. Our largest new purchase was Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM), a leading US-managed healthcare company. After a few years of benign costs, mainly related to lower utilization trends during COVID in which the managed care industry enjoyed expanding profits and strong growth, utilization has ticked higher, driving up costs. Due to the timing of annual negotiated repricing for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, Humana is unable to adjust pricing higher until 2025. In the interim, this is problematic for earnings. Naturally, this has weighed on Humana’s stock price. In the latest quarter, revenues were up 10%, but profits were restrained due to higher utilization. This was mostly anticipated, but given the limited visibility into pricing for the upcoming year, investors remain on edge. Further negative news for Humana came in early October when the company announced that preliminary data provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) showed that the percentage of Humana’s members enrolled in higher quality MA plans had fallen, which would impact government bonus payments. Humana is working with CMS to appeal the process as the company believes there were potential errors; however, this introduces risk to 2026 and 2027 margin targets. The stock was downabout15%inQ3 and fell another 8% through mid-October after the news regarding the CMS ratings around the time of our initial purchase. Like the market, we appreciate Humana’s current challenges, but we believe the longer-term drivers for the business remain intact.”

Overall, HUM ranks 4th on our list of the best telehealth stocks to buy right now. While we acknowledge the potential for HUM 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. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than HUM but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.