Health insurers poised for strong 2022, hospitals to feel pressure- Mizuho

Syneos Health

14/01/2022 11:43

** Brokerage Mizuho believes while U.S. health insurers and
clinical laboratories are poised for strong earnings growth in
Q4 and 2022, hospitals could face certain challenges
    ** Reaffirms Anthem Inc  ANTM.N , Labcorp  LH.N , IQVIA
Holdings  IQV.N , CVS Health Corp  CVS.N  and Universal Health
Services  UHS.N  as 2022 top picks 
    ** Says while the Omicron variant has driven a surge in
cases since November, severity has been lower than previous
waves; expects increases in COVID-19 costs to be offset by a
deferral in elective medical procedures
    ** Views 2022 as a recovery year for health insurers; any
risks due to COVID-19 have been factored into the initial
guidance provided by the sector
    ** The hospital sector has benefited so far from the surge
in COVID-19 cases as well as patients with severe disease
requiring costlier care, however, those trends were not as
elevated in Q4, says brokerage
    ** Expect hospitals to meet estimates, rather than post
beats throughout the pandemic - brokerage
    ** Mizuho expects clinical laboratories Labcorp and Quest
Diagnostics  DGX.N  to see a boost from COVID-19 testing,
expects them to beat its Q4 testing estimates
    ** Strong growth in 2022 likely for contract research
organizations given backlog, demand for new treatments, record
funding levels and COVID-19 opportunities - brokerage

 (Reporting by Amruta Khandekar)
 ((Amruta.Khandekar@thomsonreuters.com;))