The Australian healthcare industry certainly has been one of the best places to invest in the last five years.
During that time the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care (Index: ^AXHJ) (ASX: XHJ) has risen a staggering 151%, compared to a 21% gain by the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO).
Whilst I highly doubt that this level of outperformance will continue over the next five years, I still believe there are some fast-growing healthcare shares which could provide investors with market-beating returns.
Two shares at the top of my list are as follows:
Monash IVF Group Ltd (ASX: MVF)
As its name implies Monash IVF specialises in IVF and infertility treatments with operations predominantly in Australia, but also internationally. In FY 2016 Monash IVF reported a 12.9% jump in total IVF patient treatments across the company. Australian treatments increased 12.4%, which was well ahead of the industry average of 8.2%. Pleasingly this led to the company increasing its market share to 24%. The strong increase in treatments drove bottom line growth by an impressive 34.6% to $28.8 million. Management has forecast an increase in demand next year, which I expect could help the company deliver another bumper profit result.
Nanosonics Ltd. (ASX: NAN)
Nanosonics is a leading infection prevention specialist deriving the majority of its sales from the lucrative US market. Just last week the company released another record quarterly sales result of $17.8 million. This meant sales increased 18% quarter on quarter or a whopping 174% on the prior corresponding period. The driver of this growth has been the company's trophon EPR product. Clinical studies have shown that the toxic liquid disinfectants currently being used in high-level disinfectant ultrasound probes are ineffective, whereas trophon EPR is completely effective. As a result I believe sales will continue to grow at a strong rate for some time to come.
