This year has been tough for the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector, but Wall Street still has high expectations for these six stocks.

For the healthcare industry, this year has been extremely challenging, but there are still some stocks favored by Wall Street analysts.

The S&P has fallen 3% this year, significantly lagging behind the 15.7% gain of the S&P 500 index. The index fell 3.6% last year, so if it fails to rebound in 2023, it will be the first time in over twenty years that the index has declined for two consecutive years.

No corner of the industry has been spared. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) has dropped 8.3%, while the S&P 500 Pharmaceuticals Industry Index has remained relatively flat. The iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI) has declined by 4%.

Nevertheless, there are still opportunities for stock selection. Some individual stocks, including Eli Lilly and Company, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), and Zoetis (ZTS), have performed much better than the market this year.

The following six healthcare stocks have received buy ratings from over 70% of analysts.

Six Healthcare Stocks

Company/Stock Code | Market Value (Billions) | YTD Price Change | Buy Rating Ratio--- | --- | --- | ---Zoetis (ZTS) | $82.7 | 22.6% | 86.7%Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO) | $10.7 | -12.5% | 83.3%Bio-Techne Corporation (TECH) | $11.3 | -14.1% | 76.9%DexCom, Inc. (DXCM) | $37.0 | -15.8% | 73.9%UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) | $450.2 | -8.3% | 73.1%Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) | $77.6 | 14.5% | 71.9%

The selected stocks include some that have outperformed the market this year, but the performance of more stocks has even lagged behind the rest of the healthcare industry. This includes animal pharmaceutical companies (UNH) and (BSX), which produce medical devices.

Other selected stocks have smaller market capitalization and lower visibility. They are (DXCM), which sells glucose monitoring systems for diabetes patients; (TECH), which sells tools to the life sciences industry; and (BIO), which provides services to the life science research and diagnostics industry.

These stocks have risen more than 20% year-to-date and have also seen revenue growth. Analysts are enthusiastic about the launch of Librela, a new pain reliever for dogs.

William Blair analyst Brandon Vazquez has given the stock an outperform rating, stating that the launch of Librela will help the company "sustain its recent momentum and achieve double-digit earnings growth per share."

According to FactSet data, the current trading price of the stock is more than 30 times the expected earnings per share for the next 12 months.

Although Bio-Rad Laboratories is not well-known and has a market value only a fraction of Zoetis', it is also a favorite among analysts. The stock has fallen 12.5% this year, but out of the five analysts tracked by FactSet, four have given the company a buy rating.