Despite the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care (Index: ^AXHJ) (ASX: XHJ) climbing an impressive 24% year-to-date, one of its largest and most popular constituents has proven to be a real laggard.
During this time the Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) share price has managed a gain of just 1.5%.
Furthermore, the majority of this gain has come in the last month thanks to a solid rally.
Is this a buying opportunity?
I think it is. After all, with such bright long-term growth prospects I think investors ought to grab hold of shares in the private hospital opportunity on any share price weakness.
Although it may not be conventionally cheap at 24x estimated forward earnings, this is lower than the level its shares have traded at on average during the last five years.
And while there are concerns about falling private health insurance numbers, I believe that demand for its services due to ageing populations, its global footprint, and increased chronic disease burden will more than offset this.
Furthermore, the company's strong balance sheet provides it with the opportunity to accelerate its growth through expansions and acquisitions.
In light of this, I think Ramsay would be a great buy and hold investment today, ahead of cheaper industry peers Primary Health Care Limited (ASX: PRY) and Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO).
All in all, unless it has a stellar couple of weeks, Ramsay is likely to be beaten by the market this year. But I expect 2018 will be a very different story.
