by winston » Mon Sep 02, 2024 10:22 am
China Healthcare – Some positives but remain cautious overall
The Chinese healthcare sector has been under pressure year-to-date (YTD) as the MSCI China Healthcare Index corrected 23%, making it the worst performing sector, vs +2% for the MSCI China Index.
We attribute the underperformance to the impact of the anti-corruption campaign (ACC), volume-based procurement (VBP), tightening insurance budget and geopolitical tensions.
We continued to see a lingering impact of the ACC in 2Q24, albeit with a decrease in intensity from the peak in 3Q23.
The healthcare sector’s growth could remain moderate in 2024 as the ACC has become more routine, with many provinces extending their timelines and targets to 2026.
On a positive note, the government has introduced several supportive healthcare policies this year, including the “implementation plan for supporting the development of innovative drugs across the entire supply chain”, a medical equipment upgrade program, and the DRG/DIP 2.0 publication aimed at optimizing resource allocation.
While we await further follow-up actions/plans, these policies may boost investor sentiment as they indicate a generally positive government stance towards healthcare.
Following the policy announcement, the healthcare sector rebounded in Jul and Aug 2024. We believe the sustainability of the momentum in 2H24 will depend on earnings visibility, company-specific catalysts such as new drug approval, clinical trial results, favourable policies and valuations etc.
However, it is worth noting that 2H23 had a low base and with the ongoing recovery from the ACC, we could potentially see improved performances for most of the healthcare companies in 2H24.
Overall, we remain cautious on the sector in the near-term due to the policy implementation timeline, increasing cost control from National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA), weak domestic consumption, and the ongoing ACC and VBP.
We continue to prefer quality healthcare companies with positive risk-reward propositions that include solid product pipelines, earnings resilience and supportive valuations.
Within our coverage, we prefer Sino Biopharmaceutical (1177 HK) (strong growth in innovative drug and pipelines) and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals (2607 HK/ 601607 CH) (the second largest state-owned enterprise (SOE) distributor of pharmaceutical and healthcare products in China, a potential play on the SOE theme).
While we see long-term growth prospects in CSPC Pharmaceutical (1093 HK), the impact of VBP on CSPC’s sales is yet to be fully reflected and could last longer than our initial expectations.
Source: OCBC
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