ZACKS·2026-01-06 10:41Core Insights - The medical sector is increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI), enhancing drug synthesis, device creation, and diagnostic accuracy [2][3] Group 1: Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY) - Eli Lilly focuses on cardiometabolic health, neuroscience, oncology, and immunology, which are high-growth areas with significant commercial potential [5] - Demand for LLY's GLP-1 drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, remains strong, contributing to robust sales in 2025 [6] - LLY is advancing its pipeline with an oral GLP-1 obesity pill, orforglipron, expected to launch next year [7] - Eli Lilly is collaborating with OpenAI for novel medicine discovery and invested $409 million in Genetic Leap for AI-driven drug discovery [7] - The company is building a supercomputer with NVIDIA to enhance its AI capabilities, with expected revenue and earnings growth rates of 22.3% and 41.3% respectively for the current year [8] - LLY has a return on equity (ROE) of 109.5%, significantly higher than the industry average of 37% [9] Group 2: Medtronic plc (MDT) - Medtronic is integrating AI into its solutions to improve patient care and operational efficiency, including an AI-powered surgical video management platform [10] - The GI Genius project enhances colorectal cancer detection, increasing survival rates by identifying polyps that may be missed [11] - Medtronic's partnerships leverage AI to optimize cardiac procedures and improve diagnostic precision, driving growth in the medtech sector [12] - The company has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 7.5% and 2.7% respectively for the current year [14] - MDT has a ROE of 14.9%, outperforming the industry average of -2.5% [14] Group 3: Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) - Intuitive Surgical is embedding AI into its robotic systems, providing objective performance indicators for surgeons [15] - The company is piloting telecollaboration for remote surgical support, enhancing training and decision-making [16] - ISRG's revenue and earnings growth rates are expected to be 14.3% and 11.1% respectively for the current year [19] - ISRG has a ROE of 15.1%, compared to the industry's ROE of -18.7% [19] Group 4: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN) - Regeneron utilizes AI and machine learning for drug target identification, clinical trial optimization, and precision medicine [20] - The company has seen revenue growth driven by strong performance from Dupixent and Libtayo, despite declining sales of Eylea [21] - REGN's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 4.9% and -0.4% respectively for the current year [23] - REGN has a ROE of 13.8%, significantly higher than the industry's ROE of -65.41% [23] Group 5: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) - Johnson & Johnson's MedTech division is focused on AI technologies for surgical robotics and digital surgery analytics [24] - The company has developed the Ottava robotic surgery platform and the Caresurgical/VELYS digital surgery systems, enhancing procedure planning [25] - JNJ has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 5% and 5.7% respectively for the current year [26] - JNJ has a ROE of 32.7%, compared to the industry's ROE of 37% [26]