The Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) share price was a positive performer on Thursday.
The private hospital operator's shares rose 0.6% to $65.15.
Though, despite this gain, the Ramsay Health Care share price remains down almost 10% in 2022.
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Is the Ramsay Health Care share price in the buy zone?
While the weakness in the Ramsay Health Care share price in 2022 has been disappointing for shareholders, it could be a buying opportunity for others.
That's the view of the team at Goldman Sachs, which this morning reiterated its buy rating on the company's shares.
And with Goldman holding firm with its $74.00 price target, this suggests there's potential upside of almost 14% for the Ramsay Health Care share price from current levels.
What did the broker say?
This week Goldman hosted Ramsay Health Care's CEO Craig McNally and CFO Martyn Roberts for an operational update and broader strategic discussion.
Following the meeting, Goldman commented: "With restrictions continuing to ease across all major markets, RHC is seeing a stronger, albeit uneven, volume development through 2H22 to date. As in previous post-restriction periods, there is a short-term dilutive skew to case-mix, which RHC confidently expects to normalise through coming quarters. Whilst staffing availability/cost remains a primary challenge across all hospital operators, RHC appears more favourably positioned than most global peers."
The broker also spoke to Ramsay Health Care about acquisitions. Management appeared to indicate that the focus would be on smaller bolt-on acquisitions rather than anything material.
It explained: "Per management, any further M&A efforts in the near-term are likely to focus on bolt-ons for Elysium (i.e. mental health facilities in the UK), and smaller primary care centers/specialists in Scandinavia. We did not sense appetite for larger, strategic assets any time soon."
Overall, Goldman appears to have come away from the meeting feeling confident about its rating on the Ramsay Health Care share price and has reiterated its buy rating.
