Healthcare stocks have been some of Australia's most consistent wealth generators, with stocks like CSL (ASX: CSL) skyrocketing more than 6000% since listing on the ASX 25 years ago.

Over the past 20 years, the S&P/ASX Health Care Index has far outperformed the rest of the market, lifting 994% compared to the S&P/ASX 200's 121% over that same period. By a long shot, it has been the ASX's best-performing sector over the past 20 years.

And yet, while COVID-19 put our health back into the spotlight, healthcare stocks have been a mixed bag since then. Yes, the developed world's populations are ageing - which spells good things for healthcare companies, but many of the sector's former darlings are now on life support.

So how can investors identify the companies with a clean bill of health? To find out, Livewire's Ally Selby was joined by two healthcare analysts in Alphinity Investment Management's Stuart Welch and Yarra Capital Management's Marcus Ryan.

They share some of the trends they are seeing in terms of valuation, cost pressures, and supply chain challenges, whether investors need specialist knowledge to be successful when investing in the sector, and the one non-negotiable healthcare companies need to make their way into these fund managers' portfolios.

Plus, they also analyse three healthcare companies, including CSL (ASX: CSL), Ansell (ASX: ANN) and Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL), and each name their highest conviction stock pick within the sector.

Note: This episode was recorded on Wednesday 10 July 2024. You can read an edited transcript below.

https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/buy-hold-sell-2-high-conviction-healthcare-winners-for-fy25