In a year characterized thus far by global market volatility and uncertainty, companies focused on healthcare innovation have significantly outperformed the broad market, according to new insights from Morningstar based on its family of Morningstar thematic indexes.
The Morningstar Global Healthcare Innovation Index draws on the forward-looking insights of Morningstar’s equity research team to select companies well positioned to benefit from innovative healthcare devices, diagnostics, and therapies. Year to date through April 21, the index rose 1.7% versus a 6.3% decline for its parent benchmark, the Morningstar Global Markets Index, a differential of eight percentage points.
According to Karen Andersen, CFA and director of the healthcare sector team at Morningstar, “The Morningstar Global Healthcare Innovation Index has benefited this year from three distinct tailwinds. First, the Healthcare sector, generally considered by investors to be a more defensive space, has held up well relative to the broad market. Second, the index methodology has overweighted stocks such as AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson and Roche, which have each performed particularly well this year. And finally, the index’s moderate bias towards value at the expense of growth has also proven beneficial.”
Added Andrew Lane, director of equity research for index strategies at Morningstar, “Morningstar thematic indexes are designed to offer concentrated thematic exposure to investors across a wide range of market themes. Because the indexes leverage forward-looking, fundamental research from Morningstar equity analysts, performance for Morningstar’s thematic indexes will often deviate from the broad market benchmarks.”
You can find a copy of the Morningstar Thematic Indexes 1Q-2025 Performance Update on the Morningstar Indexes website.
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