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GSK stocks are doing very well at the moment. Year to date, they are up nearly 20%.
There is another UK health stock that is performing much better in 2026, however. This year, it has increased by almost 40%.
Fun health stock
The stock I want to highlight today hVIVO (LSE: HVO). It is a small healthcare company based in London that specializes in clinical and laboratory testing services.
Today, it provides early stage drug development services to some of the world’s largest biopharma companies. So far, it has completed about 2,000 tests.
Currently, the stock is trading at just 8.7p. That means an investment of £1,000 buys around 11,500 shares.
It is worth noting that the stock pays a small dividend. Currently, the yield is around 2.3%, however, with a penny stock like this, dividends are definitely not guaranteed.
Why stock price will rise in 2026
Now, this stock is a few years old. In short, there was a hammer blow when Donald Trump won the US election and chose a non-vaccinationist Robert F Kennedy as Secretary of Health (this created a lot of uncertainty in the biopharma industry).
But recently, it has started commenting again. There are several reasons why.
First, both CEO Mo Khan and CFO Stephen Pinkerton bought stock in mid-December. The former bought 3.3m shares at around 6p and the latter took 520,000 shares at around 5.5p.
Insider purchases like this are a bullish indicator – insiders don’t buy a company’s stock if they expect it to go up.
Note that Khan’s purchase increased his holding size by 66% while Pinkerton’s purchase increased his position size by 69%. So, these were investments.
Second, the company issued a trading statement in late January in which it advised that 2025 revenue would be in line with expectations and that adjusted EBITDA would be positive and above expectations. This was a relief as trade updates since Trump became US President have been poor.
Most recently, the share price received a boost on 10 February after ILiAD Biotechnologies announced the closing of an oversubscribed $115m Series B funding round to develop its next-generation sputum vaccine, BPZE1. hVIVO has signed a letter of intent with ILiAD for human challenge trials (HCTs), so the company could be looking at a jump in revenue as a result of this funding (analysts at Stifel believe it could be worth £15m).
An investment opportunity?
So, should this stock be considered a portfolio today? I think so.
It’s not a stock I can load into. Because the risk levels here are high – both income and profit may change in the coming years.
But I see more opportunities in the long run. Ultimately, the company is a ‘picks and shovels’ game in drug development.
If an investor is willing to take a five+ year view (our preferred investment horizon here The Motley Fool), I think this stock can do really well and is worth considering. During that time, the company may experience significant growth.
It is worth noting that hVIVO shares currently have a price-to-sales ratio of just 1.2. That compares to 4.8 for US competitors Medpace Holdings share price.
So, at 8.7p, there seems to be some value on offer.
