Goldman initiates a buy rating on this one-time pandemic stock darling, sees more than 50% upside

A number of catalysts could drive gains for Teladoc Health in the coming months, according to Goldman Sachs. Analyst David Roman initiated coverage on the name with a buy rating, and his price target of $14 implies 56.3% upside from Thursday’s close. “We believe EBITDA estimates need to move slightly lower for 2025 and guidance, which we expect early in 2025 or on the 4Q earnings call will likely drive numbers lower to a point where investors can have improved confidence relative to expectations,” the analyst said in a Thursday note. “At this point, we do not see the downward risk as material (~1%) and think current valuation largely reflects this potential.” Looking ahead to next year, he anticipates that the virtual health care company’s results will be driven by slightly better-than-expected top-line growth in its Integrated Care segment. That combined with continued margin expansion in the segment should offset the pressures facing the company’s BetterHelp business, Roman said. “While we expect BetterHelp revenue and EBITDA to continue on a downward trajectory in 2025, we expect progress on enabling improved access via insurance, and as the path forward crystallizes (both strategy and financial trajectory) expect greater value to be ascribed to this business,” the analyst continued. Once one of the hottest pandemic stocks alongside Zoom , Teladoc shares more than doubled in 2020 as investors believed the telehealth boom occurring during Covid would continue. But that didn’t quite come to fruition as the pandemic eased with patients returning to in-person visits and larger health care players developing their own telehealth solutions. The shares lost half their value in 2021 and another 74% in 2022. In 2024 specifically, the stock has seen big losses again, with shares sliding more than 58% year to date. TDOC YTD mountain TDOC, year-to-date His bullish call joins the few analysts on Wall Street with a similar stance. Among the 27 analysts covering it, only six in total have a strong buy or buy rating. The remaining 21 analysts all have a hold rating. That said, the Street still sees some gains ahead. In fact, its average target of $10.45 reflects more than 16% upside, as of Thursday’s close. Shares were up more than 1% in the premarket following Roman’s call.