If you're interested in gaining some exposure to the healthcare sector, then you might want to read on.
Listed below are two ASX healthcare shares that have been given buy ratings. Here's what you need to know:
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Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC)
Ramsay Health Care could be an ASX healthcare share to consider. It is a leading private healthcare company with operations across the world.
It has also just announced plans to bolster its network in the United Kingdom market with the proposed acquisition of Spire Healthcare for $1.8 billion. This is expected to create a leading private health care services provider in the lucrative market. It will also diversify Ramsay UK's payor sources, and case mix, expanding the geographic reach of its capabilities and improving capacity utilisation.
In the meantime, the company looks well-placed to benefit from a post-pandemic backlog in surgeries in the near term.
One broker that is particularly positive on Ramsay is Citi. Last week the broker upgraded the company's shares to a buy rating from neutral and increased its price target from $67.00 to $76.00.
Citi commented: "While the business currently remains severely impacted by the pandemic, we expect incremental news to be positive as health systems return to more normal conditions in FY22 and FY23."
Volpara Health Technologies Ltd (ASX: VHT)
Volpara is a healthcare technology company that provides software which leverages artificial intelligence imaging algorithms to help with the early detection of breast cancer.
Management notes that its innovative products have an ever-increasing number of patents, trademarks, and regulatory clearances. The latter includes FDA clearance and CE marking.
Over the last few years, the company has been growing its market share at a rapid rate in the United States. For example, at the end of FY 2021, approximately 32% of US women had a Volpara product applied on their images and data. This compares to 27% from a year earlier.
This helped underpin a 57% increase in revenue to a record of NZ$19.7 million for the 12 months ended 31 March.
Pleasingly, more of the same is expected in FY 2022. Management has provided revenue guidance of approximately NZ$25 million to NZ$26 million, which represents year on year growth of 27% to 32%.
Morgans is a fan of the company. It currently has an add rating and $1.87 price target on its shares.
