Siddhartha Khemka on 2 hospital stocks to bet on

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Siddhartha Khemka, V-P, Head of Research, MOFSL, says «In India, we saw the IMF upgrading the India growth estimates plus we had the CLSA upgrading our overall overweight on the Indian market. These are all things which clearly make us positive on the market even in the near term. We all know that the long term looks quite good, but even in the near term, any dip of 4%, these kinds of positive news flows start coming in and investors come back to give that kind of support to the markets.»

What is your pick in hospitals? One hospital stock which is catching my attention is Shalby. I would say it will be the most underperforming hospital stock but buzzing today. Do you track it or any other hospital pick?
We do not have coverage on Shalby but we have a positive view on the hospitality space, the healthcare space, the hospitals. We like both Apollo Hospitals as well as Max Healthcare. The hospital sector is witnessing strong tailwinds given the increased penetration of insurance and higher international patients flow, as well as the enhanced healthcare awareness after the pandemic that the world witnessed over the last few years.

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With consolidation, this sector has witnessed an ROE expansion due to the improved profitability and healthy operating leverage. Within that, Apollo is a largecap while Max is a midcap company that we like. Max has also planned an aggressive bed expansion to increase its capacity to 3,550 beds. 75% of this expansion, interestingly, is expected to be done through a brownfield expansion which will add