With demand for healthcare services expected to rise strongly over the next couple of decades as populations age and better treatments are developed, I think it is well worth investors having exposure to the healthcare sector.
While there are many quality shares to choose from in the sector, three of my favourites are listed below:
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)
I feel that this global biotech star is arguably the highest quality company on the local share market and a great buy and hold option for investors. While its shares have run hard over the last 12 months, they have pulled back from their all-time high in recent weeks. I think this has potentially created a buying opportunity for investors. Furthermore, although its shares trade at a premium to the market average, I think that the overall quality of its businesses and their strong long-term growth potential go some way to justifying this.
ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD)
Another top healthcare share that I think would be a great investment is ResMed. Due to the quality of its products I believe this sleep treatment company is in a great position to win a growing share of a market that is tipped to grow strongly in the future. In addition to this, I expect the company's focus on the fast-growing cloud-connected medical device market to support the growth of its core business.
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)
Investors looking for exposure to the small end of the healthcare sector might want to consider this health technologies company. Volpara provides an increasingly popular breast imaging analytics and analysis software platform which commanded a 3.7% share of the U.S. market in FY 2018. Pleasingly, management appears confident that it will more than double its share to 9% in FY 2019. I expect this to lead to further growth in its annual recurring revenues (ARR). In FY 2018 its ARR grew at an impressive 223% year-on-year.
