Several major trends mean that demand for healthcare services and products will continue to rise in the long-term:

• One of these is demographic change: The older people get, the longer and more they use healthcare services.

• Secondly, large parts of humanity still have no or only very underdeveloped access to healthcare. There is great potential for catch-up and growth in this regard, particularly in many Emerging Markets.

• The healthcare industry also benefits from the fact that it attracts a lot of public funding.

Not only, but also for this reason, pharmaceutical companies are an important, but not the only component of a good healthcare equity fund. A key success factor, in addition to the selection of companies, is a good mix of different subsectors.

Fund portrait of Raiffeisen-Health and Welbeing-ESG-Aktien

On the one hand, a good mix reduces the volatility of the fund portfolio by investing in different business models, areas of activity and therefore sources of income (although fluctuations cannot be completely avoided). On the other hand, the fund taps into the earnings potential of many different trends in the healthcare sector. In addition to pharmaceutical stocks, the fund Raiffeisen-Health and Wellbeing-ESG-Aktien primarily invests in stocks from the following sectors

• medical technology and devices,

• biotechnology,

• life science and diagnostics,

• health insurance, and

• healthcare accessories.

In addition - and this sets it apart from many other healthcare funds – Raiffeisen-Health and Wellbeing-ESG-Aktien also include companies from the Wellbeing sector. Mental and physical well-being into old age is also important and often goes hand in hand with simply staying healthy.

Pharmaceutical stocks such as Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk among the largest positions

The largest individual positions in the fundRaiffeisen-Health and Wellbeing-ESG-Aktien currently include Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, two pharmaceutical companies that are attracting a great deal of interest from the media and investors, particularly due to their new anti-obesity drugs. However, drug development and fund management have also been focussing on effective treatment options for rare but serious diseases for some time now. Those who are the first to find solutions here can often secure small but usually very lucrative markets for a long time, as it is often no longer worthwhile for competitors to enter the market, even if they are successful. The authorisation procedures here are also usually shorter and simpler.

Robotics in focus

The fund management also focuses on technology leaders in medical technology, such as the companies Intuitive Surgical and Boston Scientific.

Equity valuations and earnings expectations inspire confidence

In recent months, healthcare equities have underperformed without any apparent reason or understandable cause – most analysts are rather perplexed about this. It is possible that more dynamic sectors simply attracted more attention from investors. In any case, it was not due to valuations and earnings expectations.

In terms of earnings growth for the coming year, there are even indications that healthcare equities will grow faster than the overall market average. Equity valuations are also in line with the historical average and are even slightly more favourable relative to the overall market than the long-term average. Of course, overall market and sector analyses are only assessments and not guarantees. The actual valuations and profits of the individual companies and equities are the real picture and can also deviate from the estimates.

Tip: Further information on health, nutrition and well-being can also be found at investment-zukunft.

The fund exhibits elevated volatility, meaning that unit prices can move significantly higher or lower in short periods of time, and it is not possible to rule out loss of capital.